The Mountains Sing

Trần Diệu Lan was born in 1920. When the Land Reform arrives in the North and a Communist government takes power, she is forced off her family farm and flees with her six children.

Years later in Hà Nội, her granddaughter Hương is growing up while the Việt Nam War pulls the household apart. Hương's parents and uncles leave for the front, travelling down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight.

The novel follows the Trần family across several generations, moving between grandmother and granddaughter. It is historical fiction told from the point of view of Vietnamese people, and it draws on the language and traditions of Việt Nam. The scale is large, but the telling stays close to one family and its daily life.

What the war costs ordinary people sits at the centre: a farm lost, children sent away, a family divided by a conflict that reaches into every room. Kindness and hope run through the book as the Trần women try to hold what remains of their home together.