Twilight Territory
When Japan occupies Vietnam during World War II, the Vietnamese people, long under French colonial rule, have traded one oppressor for another. So single mother Le Tuyet is understandably wary when a Japanese major, Yamazaki Takeshi, enters the shop she owns with her aunt, seeking an introduction. Though she is hesitant, as she gets to know the battered veteran, she discovers kindness, strength, and compassion. Despite the war, love blossoms. At the war’s end, the Japanese soldiers repatriate, but the French remain in power. Sympathetic to the Vietnamese and in love with Tuyet, Takeshi chooses to stay and, as the French tighten their control, he joins the Viet Minh resistance movement. Fiercely patriotic Tuyet has battles of her own, as she tries to keep her family fed throughout famine and safe from French retaliations against those suspected of aiding the Viet Minh. Spanning World War II and the First Indochina War, Tuyet and Takeshi’s story is one of love and heartbreak.
Twilight Territory brings to life a time and place underexplored in English-language fiction. As an American who knew little about French colonization of present-day Vietnam and the fight for control in that region prior to the Vietnam War, I appreciated the historical perspective. Pham’s writing is lyrical and assured, painting a picture of a landscape that is lush and heady, but also ravaged by famine, monsoon, power, and war. The characters have moments of defeat but, like the country they live in and fight for, they grow stronger with each season. A novel full of conflict, character, and meticulously researched history; a fascinating and recommended read.
