Catherine Dang – författare

A haunting coming-of-age tale following the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ronny Nguyen, as she grapples with the weight of generational trauma while navigating the violent power of teenage girlhood, for fans of Jennifer's Body and Little Fires Everywhere.It's the summer before high school and Ronny Nguyen's days are spent dozing off to trashy magazines. In contrast stands her brother Tommy, the pride of their immigrant parents and destined to be the first in the family to attend college. The thought of Tommy leaving for college and being left alone with her parents, Me and Ba, fills Ronny with dread.Their parents rarely speak of their past in Vietnam, except through the lens of food. Their meals are a tapestry of cultural memory: thick spring rolls with nem nuong, and steaming bowls of pho tai with slices of blood-red beef. In the aftermath of the war, Me and Ba taught Ronny and Tommy that meat was a dangerous luxury, a symbol of survival that should never be taken for granted.But when tragedy strikes, Ronny's world is upended. Her sense of self and her understanding of her family are shattered. A few nights later at a party, a boy crosses the line, and Ronny is overtaken by a force larger than herself. This newfound power comes with an insatiable hunger for flesh, a craving that is both a saving grace and a potential destroyer.What Hunger is a visceral, emotional journey through the bursts and pitfalls of female rage.

“Darkly delicious . . . Nice Girls is about the girlhood we never really leave behind, and what happens when we dare to confront our past demons. A pulsating mystery with a narrator you won't soon forget.” — Laura Dave, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Last Thing He Told Me"If you’re a total true crime addict, Catherine Dang’s debut novel will have you hooked real fast." — CosmopolitanRecommended by New York Times Book Review • Entertainment Weekly • Cosmopolitan • Los Angeles Times • Harper's Bazaar • New York Post • E! Online • Bustle • Popsugar • CrimeReads • The Nerd Daily • PureWow • Mystery & Suspense Magazine • Criminal Element • and more!A pulse-pounding and razor-sharp debut with the emotional punch of Luckiest Girl Alive and All the Missing Girls that explores the hungry, angry, dark side of girlhood and dares to ask: Which is more dangerous for a woman—showing the world what it wants to see, or who she really is?What did you do? Mary used to be such a nice girl. She was the resident whiz kid of Liberty Lake, Minnesota—the quiet, chubby teen with the scholarship to an Ivy League school. But three years later, “Ivy League Mary” is back—a thinner, cynical, restless failure who was kicked out of Cor­nell at the beginning of her senior year and won’t tell anyone why. Taking a job at the local grocery store, Mary tries to make sense of her life’s sharp downward spiral.Then beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand goes missing. A rising social media star, Olivia is admired by everyone in Liberty Lake—except Mary. Once Olivia’s best friend, Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hides a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the town obsesses over perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary wonders if her disappearance might be tied to another missing person: nineteen-year-old DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway.Who is the real Olivia Willand, and where did she go? What happened to DeMaria? As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds will bleed fresh and force her to confront a horrible truth.Maybe there are no nice girls, after all.“Complex characters, questionable choices, and conflicted feelings about who we are and the people we leave behind combine in a compelling thriller that will have you flipping pages to discover how it all fits together.”— Darby Kane, #1 internationally bestselling author of Pretty Little Wife“Nice Girls finds itself among the most haunting of mysteries, those that resonate with our current affairs, like Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching and Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind. Perfect for the millennial armchair detective, Nice Girls will satisfy your true crime addiction and intensify your desire for justice.”— Paperback Paris

This is not a tale where the girl is running away from danger - instead, she is the danger. It's the summer before high school and Ronny Nguyen is too young for work and too old for cartoons. Instead, she spends her days falling asleep to trashy magazines on a plastic lawn chair in her small backyard. She's a stark contrast to her older brother Tommy, her immigrant parents' pride and joy. Ronny can't bear to think about what it will be like when Tommy, with whom she's always been close, goes to college and leaves her alone with Me and Ba in their quiet house. Their parents never speak of their childhoods or families in Vietnam, except in the context of food: thick spring rolls with slim and salty nem nuong; bright yellow rice noodles called mi quang, steaming bowls of pho tai with thin, delicate slices of blood-red beef floating on top. In the aftermath of the war, Me and Ba explained, meat became dangerous. Ronny and Tommy must never take their lives - or their food - for granted. Well, Ronny never had much of an appetite for meat, and life on the wrong side of the highway in a white suburb has never been easy. But then tragedy strikes, and everything Ronny thought she knew about herself or her life, changes in an instant. A few nights later at her first high school party, a boy does not take no for answer and suddenly Ronny is overtaken by a force, an urge, larger than herself. As Ronny comes into her own power, she discovers a new taste for life that is poised to save her, even as it threatens to destroy everything and everyone around her. "Whether it took days, or months, or years, I would come for him.And I would savour the moment."

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book for Summer!'Dang's writing pulses with a simmering rage, and the novel's bloodcurdling conclusion will leave readers with a lasting sense of satisfaction' Monika Kim, author of The Eyes Are the Best PartA haunting coming-of-age tale following the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ronny Nguyen, as she grapples with the weight of generational trauma while navigating the violent power of teenage girlhood, for fans of Jennifer's Body and Little Fires Everywhere.It's the summer before high school and Ronny Nguyen's days are spent dozing off to trashy magazines. In contrast stands her brother Tommy, the pride of their immigrant parents and destined to be the first in the family to attend college. The thought of Tommy leaving for college and being left alone with her parents, Me and Ba, fills Ronny with dread.Their parents rarely speak of their past in Vietnam, except through the lens of food. Their meals are a tapestry of cultural memory: thick spring rolls with nem nuong, and steaming bowls of pho tai with slices of blood-red beef. In the aftermath of the war, Me and Ba taught Ronny and Tommy that meat was a dangerous luxury, a symbol of survival that should never be taken for granted.But when tragedy strikes, Ronny's world is upended. Her sense of self and her understanding of her family are shattered. A few nights later at a party, a boy crosses the line, and Ronny is overtaken by a force larger than herself. This newfound power comes with an insatiable hunger for flesh, a craving that is both a saving grace and a potential destroyer.What Hunger is a visceral, emotional journey through the bursts and pitfalls of female rage. 'Dang's darkly playful portrayal of cannibalism is vivid, funny, real - and a perfectly gruesome metaphor for female rage. It builds and boils, and the final twist had me cheering' Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour