Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION ‘A mighty achievement’ 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

Full Product Details

9780008528782

Table of Contents

Reviews

'This lean, affecting book packs a mighty punch and heralds a dazzling new talent' Observer 'Powerful ... a bold debut that breaks new ground' Sunday Times 'A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'A heartbreaking novel ... a deeply affecting reckoning with history' i-D Magazine 'A poignant saga with its grieving, beating heart firmly in the right place, and heralds the arrival of an ambitious and promising new talent' Guardian 'A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope' Marie Claire 'Something special - a polyvocal novel, an essay on inherited trauma and a quiet metafiction about telling stories we don't own' New York Times 'Meticulously researched and beautifully imagined ... deeply affecting' Tash Aw, author of We, the Survivors 'As relevant now as it ever was. You won't get through this without your heart breaking' AnOther 'Deeply moving and deeply generous ... I cried reading it' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of there are more things 'A searing, sweeping and intimate story of such heart and scope' Rachel Long, author of My Darling from the Lions 'Historical epic Wandering Souls ... [offers] a very different take on the immigrant experience' Vogue

'I raced through it. Beautiful, brilliant, unflinching' Rebecca F. Kuang, author of Babel and Yellowface 'This lean, affecting book packs a mighty punch and heralds a dazzling new talent' Observer 'Powerful ... a bold debut that breaks new ground' Sunday Times 'A deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'A heartbreaking novel ... a deeply affecting reckoning with history' i-D Magazine 'A poignant saga with its grieving, beating heart firmly in the right place, and heralds the arrival of an ambitious and promising new talent' Guardian 'A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope' Marie Claire 'Something special - a polyvocal novel, an essay on inherited trauma and a quiet metafiction about telling stories we don't own' New York Times 'Meticulously researched and beautifully imagined ... deeply affecting' Tash Aw, author of We, the Survivors 'As relevant now as it ever was. You won't get through this without your heart breaking' AnOther 'Deeply moving and deeply generous ... I cried reading it' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of there are more things 'A searing, sweeping and intimate story of such heart and scope' Rachel Long, author of My Darling from the Lions 'Historical epic Wandering Souls ... [offers] a very different take on the immigrant experience' Vogue

'A debut in name only, Wandering Souls is an astute and sure-footed excavation of family, selfhood, and loss in the shadow of colonial violence. It is also a deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK. A mighty achievement' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'Wandering Souls is deeply moving and deeply generous. Pin writes about the Vietnamese disapora in the UK - its past and its present - with love and care. I cried reading it' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of there are more things 'Wandering Souls achieves a rare feat, taking a familiar story and making it something entirely new. With language at once both concise and gorgeous, Pin opens a window into questions of duty, identity, and love. Here migration is less a desire for survival than a journey into the thundering heart of family itself, where connection and understanding are hard-won and ultimately redemptive' Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors 'A haunting exploration of love and leaving told with a quiet longing that grabs you and doesn't let go. Wandering Souls asks what it takes not only to survive unimaginable loss, but to live through it and thrive. Exceptional' Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Four Treasures of the Sky 'Wandering Souls profoundly grapples with how people survive and remake themselves and their communities after tragedy. The novel asks: What does remembrance require? What are the costs of forgetting? And is there such a thing as moving on? Cecile Pin presents no easy answers. Instead, she has created a form to contain all of the contradiction, heartbreak, hope, and tender humanity' Nadia Owusu, author of Aftershocks

'A debut in name only, Wandering Souls is an astute and sure-footed excavation of family, selfhood, and loss in the shadow of colonial violence. It is also a deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK. A mighty achievement' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'Wandering Souls achieves a rare feat, taking a familiar story and making it something entirely new. With language at once both concise and gorgeous, Pin opens a window into questions of duty, identity, and love. Here migration is less a desire for survival than a journey into the thundering heart of family itself, where connection and understanding are hard-won and ultimately redemptive' Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors

'A debut in name only, Wandering Souls is an astute and sure-footed excavation of family, selfhood, and loss in the shadow of colonial violence. It is also a deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK. A mighty achievement' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'Wandering Souls is deeply moving and deeply generous. Pin writes about the Vietnamese disapora in the UK - its past and its present - with love and care. I cried reading it' Yara Rodrigues Fowler 'Wandering Souls achieves a rare feat, taking a familiar story and making it something entirely new. With language at once both concise and gorgeous, Pin opens a window into questions of duty, identity, and love. Here migration is less a desire for survival than a journey into the thundering heart of family itself, where connection and understanding are hard-won and ultimately redemptive' Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Author Information

Cecile Pin grew up in Paris and New York City before moving to London at 18 to study philosophy at University College London, followed by an MA at King's College London. She is currently editorial assistant at Jonathan Cape. She also writes for Bad Form Review, was longlisted for its Young Writer's prize and is a London Writers Awards 2021 winner.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available