Summer Rolls

"The dish took patience and time, but for that, you were rewarded with memories..."

Mai is a first-generation British-Vietnamese girl navigating life in 90s London. Her mother, Trinh, despairs at her daughter's modern-day sullenness.

Trinh was young once too, living a vibrant, complicated life in Vietnam until forced to flee her war-torn home. Caring for the son she thought she'd lost and the daughter she desperately wants to protect in their new surroundings, she tries not to think about the secrets buried in the rubble of the life she left behind...

The Nguyen family do their best to integrate, but old memories begin to bubble back to the surface. Mai's young adulthood - searching for her calling amid the turmoil of teenage love - mingles with the intricacies of her mother's own past.

The triumphs and traumas of one generation are handed down into the lives of the next. But as their stories unfold, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for Trinh and Mai to come to understand one another...

An epic, heartwarming novel that explores love, generational contrasts, and the importance of family, for fans of PACHINKO and ON EARTH WE'RE BREIFLY GORGEOUS.