When the Tamarind Tree Blooms

Geneviève Dubois, half-Lao, half-French, turns eighteen and leaves the French orphanage where she has been trapped for fourteen unhappy years. She is determined to uncover the story of her parents and locate her missing twin brother. Stepping into the deeply divided world of 1931 French colonial Laos, she finds neither French colons nor native Lao readily accept her mixed heritage. Even falling in love is fraught with the cultural restrictions of two dissonant societies. Where does she fit in?

"Stunning coming-of-age set in French colonial Laos." Booklife Review, Editor's Pick.

"A richly sensory narrative set in Laos during the period of French rule. Russell’s prose is…crisp and considered… Readers who desire to wander through the streets and fields of French colonial Laos will find much here to stir their imaginations." - Kirkus Reviews