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    Wandering Souls
    Wandering Souls
    Wandering Souls
    Audiobook5 hours

    Wandering Souls

    Written by Cecile Pin

    Narrated by Aoife Hinds, Ioanna Kimbook and Ainsleigh Barber

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION

    'A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and … hope’ OCEAN VUONG

    ‘Beautiful, brilliant’ R. F. KUANG

    ‘Dazzling’ OBSERVER

    ‘Will shatter your heart’ GLAMOUR

    ‘Powerful’ SUNDAY TIMES

    An extraordinary story of the journey of one young family through love, loss and unwavering hope.

    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 and embark on a perilous journey in hope of a new life. Separated from their parents and fearing the worst they find themselves travelling alone in the world without a home to return to. After a twist of fate lands them in Thatcher’s Britain, they must somehow build new lives there. Will the love they have for each other be enough to keep them together?

    Wandering Souls is a stunning, life-affirming testament to the healing power of stories.

    A Time and Guardian book of the year

    Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2023

    ‘Poignant and lyrical’ DAVID NICHOLLS

    ‘A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope’ MARIE CLAIRE

    ‘Beautiful… I loved every word’ PHILIPPA PERRY

    ‘A deeply affecting reckoning with history’ i-D

    ‘Tells one of the most important stories of our times’ LUCY CALDWELL

    ‘Special … Reading it is like watching a writer at work’ NEW YORK TIMES

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateMar 2, 2023
    ISBN9780008528805
    Author

    Cecile Pin

    Cecile Pin grew up in Paris and New York City and now lives in London. She writes for Bad Form Review, was longlisted for its Young Writer’s prize and is a London Writers Awards 2021 winner.

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    Reviews for Wandering Souls

    4.5/5

    106 ratings5 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an amazing and powerful portrayal of the Vietnamese refugee experience. It interweaves factual history with a beautiful story, exploring intergenerational trauma and the immigration experience. The book is described as simple, clear, and fascinating, providing a unique perspective on the relationship between the living and the dead in Vietnamese culture. Overall, readers thoroughly enjoyed this book and were inspired to learn more about Vietnamese war survivors.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A view into the realities of the life journey of the Vietnamese boat people. I liked the narrative mix from writer, ghost and protagonist
    • 5/5
      Just marvellous. I know need to read more about Vietnamese war survivors. To read a story is to learn history. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 5/5
      The book is a simple, clear and fascinating description of the relationship between the living and the dead, prevalent in people from an eastern culture, like Vietnam. I grew up in western culture and was also encouraged to succeed in life, but the dead were no longer a strong motivating factor. We remembered them as examples to follow, but never imagined them being pleased with our success. They were dead and that was the end of their involvement in our lives. The ferocious determination to succeed materially definitely has its origins in this belief.
    • 5/5
      This was an amazing book that doesn’t pull any punches.

      Telling the story of the Vietnamese boat people. A refuge crisis that I clearly remember from my childhood. Sadly over forty years on this book could not be timely if it tried.

      Anyone of us could have found ourselves on a small boat but by an accident of birth we have not.

      This gives a powerful and poetic voice to the refuge experience.

      A human one not a demonised one.
    • 5/5
      This book destroyed me. A beautiful story interwoven with factual history about Vietnam and a family who chose to leave the unrest in their house country to give their family new opportunities. It explores the immigration experience in a new country and intergenerational trauma. A beautiful expression of love from a daughter to her mother.