Twilight Territory

A Novel

By: Andrew X. Pham

Narrated by: David Lee Huynh

The peak of the hot season, 1942: The wars in Europe and Asia and the Japanese occupation have upset the uneasy balance of French Indochina. In the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet, Tuyet ekes out a living at a small storefront with her aunt Coi, her cousin Ha, and her two-year-old daughter, Anh. She can hardly remember her luxurious life in the city of Saigon, which she left just two years ago.

The day Tuyet meets Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi is inauspicious and stifling, with no relief from the sand-stirring wind. But to her surprise, she feels not fear or wariness, but a strange kinship. Tuyet is guarded, knowing how the townspeople might whisper, yet is drawn to Takeshi's warmth all the same. A wounded veteran with a good heart, Takeshi grows to resent the Empire for what it has taken—and the promises it has failed to keep. As the Viet Minh begin to battle the French and Takeshi risks his life for the Resistance, Tuyet and her family are drawn into the conflict, with devastating consequences.

A lushly panoramic novel, by turns gritty and profoundly moving, Twilight Territory is at once a war story and a love story that offers a fascinating perspective on Vietnam's struggles to break free of its French colonial past. At its heart is one woman's struggle for independence and her country's liberation.

©2024 Andrew Pham (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Too Bad About the Performance

This is quite an interesting story of Vietnam during WWII, with the interplay among the Japanese occupiers, the Vichy French administration, and the Viet Minh resistance. It is well-written, but unfortunately the reading is just terrible, making the whole experience somewhat unpleasant. The reader over-emotes, and emphasizes every sentence. His characters — male and female — tend to sound fakey instead of natural. Do yourself a favor and read, don't listen to, the book.

World War II from another perspective.

The story of Vietnamese villagers living relatively peacefully under the rule of Japanese invaders for many years.