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Twilight Territory

A Novel

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
The peak of the hot season, 1942: The wars in Europe and Asia and the Japanese occupation have upset the uneasy balance of French Indochina. In the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet, Tuyet ekes out a living at a small storefront with her aunt Coi, her cousin Ha, and her two-year-old daughter, Anh. She can hardly remember her luxurious life in the city of Saigon, which she left just two years ago. The day Tuyet meets Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi is inauspicious and stifling, with no relief from the sand-stirring wind. But to her surprise, she feels not fear or wariness, but a strange kinship. Tuyet is guarded, knowing how the townspeople might whisper, yet is drawn to Takeshi's warmth all the same. A wounded veteran with a good heart, Takeshi grows to resent the Empire for what it has taken-and the promises it has failed to keep. As the Viet Minh begin to battle the French and Takeshi risks his life for the Resistance, Tuyet and her family are drawn into the conflict, with devastating consequences. A lushly panoramic novel, by turns gritty and profoundly moving, Twilight Territory is at once a war story and a love story that offers a fascinating perspective on Vietnam's struggles to break free of its French colonial past. At its heart is one woman's struggle for independence and her country's liberation.
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    • Library Journal

      September 13, 2024

      Pham's (The Eaves of Heaven) latest is set in Vietnam during and after World War II, after Japanese forces oust the French and take control of the country. Tuyet once lived a life of luxury in Saigon. Now she runs a shop in a tiny village with her aunt. Japanese army major Yamazaki Takeshi, stationed in her village, is attracted to Tuyet and gently but persistently courts her. As Japan strengthens its wartime hold, Takeshi convinces Tuyet to marry him. Their first few years of marriage are blissful, but then the tide changes. When Japan surrenders in 1945, the Allied Forces hand Vietnam back to the French. Takeshi opts to stay in Vietnam and fights with the Vietnamese resistance. This brings increasing poverty and danger to his family. Eventually, Tuyet and Takeshi are both captured and jailed by the French. While each finds a separate means of escape, their futures are deeply uncertain. Pham's saga captures the years of colonial rule in Vietnam and its devastating effects on the local population. David Lee Huynh narrates empathetically, using varied voices and accents to create affecting character portraits. VERDICT Romance, war, and the politics of colonialism come together in a tragic, intricately described historical fiction.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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