Acclaim for Kien Nguyen's

The Tapestries

“Nguyen relates an epic tale of family, greed, revenge, and love set in Vietnam during the early decades of the 20th century…. An exciting tale that takes many twists and turns.”

—Rebecca Stuhr, Library Journal

“A heartfelt book, inspired by Nguyen's grandfather, a tapestry weaver in the court of Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam…. The novel fuses family history with folk tales. At its best, The Tapestries gives us fascinating glimpses of village and court life in Vietnam from 1916 to 1932.”

—Charles Matthews, San Jose Mercury News

“Mesmerizing…. Nguyen's thrilling storytelling leaves the impression that the supernatural does indeed exist, whether in the form of human dementia or the hostilities of nature itself. The Tapestries is a fascinating, complicated story, filled with colorful characters…written with elegance and style. It's a tour de force for Kien Nguyen to have used a classic fairy-tale genre about an ancient way of life to depict a contemporary love story.”

—Corinna Lothar, Washington Times

“Powerful…. A thrilling tale based on an extraordinary life.”

—Kristine Huntley, Booklist

“A poignant and deeply satisfying novel…. The Tapestries is set in a Vietnam unknown to most Americans. That this strange and beautiful lost world has been brought to life for us by a storyteller of such force as Kien Nguyen is cause for celebration.”

—Sigrid Nunez, author of For Rouenna

“A daringly complex and vividly imagined debut novel about a boy who fights to reclaim his family's royal legacy…. The beauty of Nguyen's stately, ornate prose—perfectly suited to the rigidly formal customs of Vietnamese royalty—serves him well as the complex plot unfolds. The scope of the tale and its grace and power make this a formidable first novel.”

—Publishers Weekly

“The Tapestries has the obsessive concentration of a Greek tragedy and the slow and howling glory of an opera…. The tale's ins and outs take us from the country to the capital, from the Imperial Palace to the low taverns and brothels of Saigon. We even get glimpses of the high seas and Parisian high society…. Many elements of The Tapestries seem familiar from Kien Nguyen's memoir, The Unwanted…. But Nguyen is such a skillful storyteller that the similarities make his novel seem universal, not repetitive—as if this story must be told again and again, like a fairy tale, until its ending comes out right.”

—Polly Shulman, Newsday

“Romance and revenge are vividly depicted in The Tapestries…. The author describes landscapes, clothing, food, architecture, festivals, ceremonies and other aspects of Vietnamese life in rich detail…. A fine debut.”

—Dean Neprud, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This excursion into a vanished world of scimitars and eunuchs and polygamy delivers…. That Kien Nguyen was not fluent in English when he arrived some fifteen years ago lends more power to The Tapestries, whose precise images put the work of countless native speakers to shame.”

—Anneli Rufus, San Francisco Chronicle

“A brilliant novel filled with details of turn-of-the-century Vietnam—a novel with a spellbinding love affair, drama, intrigue, warmth, and humor. Don't miss this lovely book.”

—Ann LaFarge, Taconic Press