Wandering Souls

There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies - everything in between is speculation.

One night not long after the last American troops leave Vietnam siblings Anh, Thanh and Minh flee their village, embarking on a perilous boat journey to Hong Kong. Their parents and four younger siblings make the crossing in another vessel but as weeks go by it becomes clear that only one party has survived the voyage.

Anh, Thanh and Minh find themselves alone in the world, without family or home. Haunted by grief and survivor’s guilt, they journey on, navigating refugee camps and resettlement centres until, by a twist of fate, they arrive in the UK. Here they must somehow build new lives with only each other to turn to, but will that be enough in a place that doesn’t want them?

Their faltering journey is deftly interwoven with the voice of their lost younger brother Dao, following them from a place between the living and the dead, and the records of an unknown researcher intent on gathering together the strands of their story.

Deeply moving and highly original Wandering Souls is a heart-breaking portrait of one family and a novel that explores the power of stories to heal wounds that span generations.