Goodbye, Saigon

Summary

Little Saigon, Westminster, California, 1993. Anh, a diminutive, self-promoting, brash, Vietnamese beauty, supports her ever-extending family on tips from a gambling lawyer. Upon his disappearance, Anh turns to his secretary Jana, a tough, self-sufficient Anglo in need of money as desperately as Anh. Together they set up a bogus law practice in Little Saigon in which Anh supplies the clients while Jana plays lawyer. Business thrives until the vicious Nep gang decides it wants a piece of their action. When a vet who knew Anh in Saigon comes to offer her a new life, Anh must first enlist Jana's aid in paying a blood debt owed to her past. In Goodbye, Saigon, Nina Vida has created a community of vivid, unforgettable characters. Never has the experience of recent immigrants been portrayed with such love, such authenticity, such a tragicomic understanding of individuals forced to build a future in the country that has obliterated their past.

©1995 Nina Vida (P)2009 Phoenix