We're Safe When We're Alone

Nghiem Tran was born in Vietnam and raised in Kansas. He is a Kundiman Fellow, and he has received degrees from Vassar College and Syracuse University. We're Safe When We're Alone is his first book.

Praise for We're Safe When We're AloneAn NPR Best Book of 2023A Kansas Notable Book of 2024"This hypnotic and richly allusive novella can be read as a concentric poem that hints at both hope and inevitable endings." —Thúy Ðinh, NPR“Sentences function like arrows that land in the reader’s brain or stomach or heart, leaving the reader with piercing insights that reverberate long after the book ends.” —Melissa Reddish, Necessary Fiction“Haunting, mournful, and thought-provoking. Tran’s debut novella expresses the anxieties and fears that come with love, trust, loss, and the unknown.” —Sammy Loree, Chicago Review of Books“A spare and haunted tale of loneliness in a surreal world.” —Kirkus"A haunting and evocative reflection on the meaning of love and memory." —Publishers Weekly“Tran flips ghost story conventions upside down.” —David Lewis, Barrelhouse“Nghiem Tran’s first novella is a marvel: a moving, lyrical piece of prose that happens to be an unputdownable page-turner. He has created a magical world—in the mode of Gabriel García Márquez or Maxine Hong Kingston—that’s astonishingly real. Read it and feel yourself transformed, maybe even saved.” —Mary Karr“The exquisite We're Safe When We're Alone is a haunting and mesmerizing debut. Part parable, part fairy tale, and part nightmare, it all seems distilled out of the deepest longing. Nghiem Tran is a powerful new voice.” —Dana Spiotta