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A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick

""A riveting mother-daughter tale."" —Elle

""Radiant. … An intimate account of one family’s planting of roots in American soil and the sacrifices great and small that each member makes along the way.” —Washington Post

A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family’s inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories.

When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she’s last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life—a beautiful lake house, a charming professor boyfriend, and invites to elegant parties that bubble over with champagne and good taste—but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Hung.

Back in Florida, Hungis simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Hunglearn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann’s childhood home, in all its strange, Gothic glory. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.

Running parallel to this is Minh’s story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life for her children. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House’s attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life—and beyond.

Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast,Banyan Moonis a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick

"A riveting mother-daughter tale." — Elle

"Radiant. … An intimate account of one family’s planting of roots in American soil and the sacrifices great and small that each member makes along the way.” — Washington Post

A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family’s inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories. 

When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she’s last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life—a beautiful lake house, a charming professor boyfriend, and invites to elegant parties that bubble over with champagne and good taste—but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Huơng.

Back in Florida, Huơng is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Huơng learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann’s childhood home, in all its strange, Gothic glory. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.

Running parallel to this is Minh’s story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life for her children. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House’s attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life—and beyond.

Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

From the national bestselling author ofBanyan Moon,a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by aforgotten Vietnamese artist that holds the truth of their familys fractured past.

Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyn have little in common.

Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, carefully preserving pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history.

Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. Shes an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, charming and intriguing everyone she meets. Shes also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.

Months after the two fall out in the wake of their fathers death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their fathers belongings. The sketch is an exact copy ofBlue Mirror, a striking painting by a Vietnamese painter named K.P. L. In the letter, L writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their fathers deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether shes willing to face or shut the door to the past.

From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a sprawling ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Vit Nam,The Seekers of Deer Creekis a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the pasthow it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried.

From the national bestselling author ofBanyan Moon,a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by aforgotten Vietnamese artist that holds the truth of their familys fractured past.

Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyn have little in common.

Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, carefully preserving pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history.

Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. Shes an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, charming and intriguing everyone she meets. Shes also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.

Months after the two fall out in the wake of their fathers death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their fathers belongings. The sketch is an exact copy ofBlue Mirror, a striking painting by a Vietnamese painter named K.P. L. In the letter, L writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their fathers deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether shes willing to face or shut the door to the past.

From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a sprawling ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Vit Nam,The Seekers of Deer Creekis a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the pasthow it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried.

A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family's inherited burdens and buried secrets.When Ann Tran gets the call that her beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. Ann has built a seemingly perfect life. She lives in a beautiful lake house and has a charming professor boyfriend, but it all crumbles away with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Hu'o'ng. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who's always held them together. Running parallel to this is Minh's story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House's attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life and her family.Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.