One of the books that I received as part of my Advent Calendar in 2025 was Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (here’s what I thought of it when I first opened the package). It’s not an author or a book that I had heard of previously, so I was unsure what to make of it. It’s a story of emigration, exile and isolation and I thought that it was very good.
The story is about three children – in my Advent blog I thought that they were all girls but it’s an older sister Anh and her two younger brothers. They live in Vietnam during the 1970s. The whole family, including four younger siblings, make the decision to escape the country by small boat. Anh and her brothers set off ahead of the rest, intending to meet them again in Hong King and join family in America, but that never happens and eventually the three young people end up in Britain.
The book is mainly a chronological narrative of what happens to the siblings but it also includes sections written from the point of view of their dead brother and some press cuttings which give the flavour of the times, as well as background information for those of you who don’t remember these events. Despite the subject matter this is a hopeful and uplifting book which is also quite realistic. The author doesn’t hide the danger and the discrimination which the three travellers face or the consequences of their life choices, but the book does show how people can make the best of their situations and the importance of community.
This isn’t a long book but it covers a lot of years and a lot of ground. I found it enlightening and enjoyable to read. My Advent copy has a broken spine, although all the pages are still stuck in firmly, so I won’t send it to Oxfam but I will pass it on via the local Sainsbury’s book table.
