Water: A Chronicle

A stunning chronicle where ghosts of the past and hopes for the future collide in the Mekong delta.

Key Selling Points

• Mesmerising prose blending magical realism with sharp cultural critique, challenging Western perceptions of  Việt Nam beyond narratives of war and poverty
• Universal themes of motherhood, womanhood, and resilience through a uniquely Vietnamese lens
• Award-winning team: celebrated Vietnamese author, award-winning translator and Booker Prize laureate editor

Synopsis

At the heart of this watery ‘chronicle’ is a dual mystery: a holy man on an island empire, and a desperate mother seeking his heart to cure her child. The mosaic novel of nine stories circles this enigma like the river’s currents, carrying with it fragments of myth and life from the great river.

A trans woman who wants to be ‘whole’, a shadow bride who wants to be fleshed, a mad woman with a colicky infant, a words-eating woman shielding her child from a fly apocalypse… The ghosts and ghouls that reflect upon the water surface may well be the everyday reality of river life, or simply the universal haunting of womanhood.

Praise for Water: a Chronicle

"...a triumph of lyrical storytelling...I couldn’t put the book down until I reached the end." — Nghiem Tran, author of We’re Safe When We’re Alone

"...a grimey, watery tale of the always-unexpected, of rough surrounds lending themselves to all kinds of fervor." — Khairani Barokka, author of amuk

"At once mythical and ultra-modern, this is a compelling story of the strange fluidities and tenacities of human identity and behaviour…." — Rachel Bowlby FBA, Professor of Comparative Literature at UCL

"… the measly 125 pages somehow still manage to make us feel the immense efforts of the author in building layers of sounds and meanings in such few words" — Tuổi Trẻ press

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Nguyễn Ngọc Tư is a highly acclaimed writer of the Việt Nam Writers Association. She is the recipient of the 2018 Liberaturpreis, and listed by Forbes as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Việt Nam. Her works have been translated into Korean, English, Swedish, and German.

Nguyễn An Lý lives in Hồ Chí Minh and co-edits the online literary journal Zzz Review. Her debut translation into English, Chinatown, won a PEN Translates Award, the 2023 ALTA National Awards, and was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2023. She is a long-time fan of Nguyễn Ngọc Tư's work.