This is a beautiful book; its reflections and depictions of the cruelty and injustice of life as a child refugee are haunting and, of course, still desperately relevant in our world today. More than this, though, Cecile has delivered us a book that defies obvious genre structures, blending fact with fictional narrative, contemporary tragedies with historical narratives, and giving us narrators both present and from the other side of the grave.

The power of Wandering Souls is in its restraint. Such reminisces and stories have every right to be angry, passionate, and riddled with tears and fury. Yet Cecile chooses not to do that in her tale of three child refugees who flee Vietnam in the late 1970s, part of the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people who fled their country in the aftermath of the War after the Communists had taken control.

There are passages of desperate tragedy, appalling violence, and painful indifference from those I the countries these boat people meet along the way. Yet Cecile writes in almost a stoic sense, reflecting the “stay silent to survive” approach of her main characters. Keep your head down to survive is the mantra and that is captured as much in tone as it is in content.

And through this the power in these words grows. It is no wonder this book has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It is a book that speaks to our future as well as our past – and on the lessons we never seem to learn.

I had no idea...

About this huge, devastating part of history.
Or the number of lives impacted in a fight for survival.
Of the mistreatment, then and right up until now and in Covid.
Of the generational trauma.

But now I do know.
This story is worthy of being told. An event that cannot and should not be forgotten.

Set over time, we follow as 3 siblings make the harrowing journey from war-torn Vietnam to the UK, with evidence/articles and author dialogues woven in between.

I was addicted to their journey, to the historical references and found myself reading and googling long into the night.

This is a must read for sure.

This is such a beautiful and moving book, I didn’t know much about the boat people and this gave an insight into what they went through, although very sad in places there was hope and joy weaved into the story. Anh was an incredible character and I’ll be thinking about this book for a while.

Recently, I've been reading more and more of east Asian literature and when I came across this book, I just had to read it. I've read tons of book about both world wars but not much about the Vietnam war and how it affected Vietnamese at that time. I found this book informative and heartbreaking.

It is a story of sacrifice and survival. It is about immeasurable loss and insurmountable strength. The story begins when Anh and her two brothers who flee Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Their parents and younger siblings stayed behind in Vietnam in the hope that they'll follow Anh, Minh and Thanh after some time Anh and her brothers reach Hong Kong via a perilous journey on boat They start their loves as refugees but only to learn about the horrendous fate of the rest of their families. Their father wanted them to live the "great American dream", however, the three siblings end up in UK. The story is about how they navigate their life as refugees in a new country.

The story is raw and painful to read about It's hard to imagine what victims of wars have gone through. This is a must read book to find out how the Vietnam war ruined families and generations.

Thank you netGAlley for giving me this ARC in echange for an honest review.

One night, not long after the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh, and Minh flee their village and embark on a perilous boat journey to Hong Kong. Their parents and four younger siblings make the crossing in another vessel but as weeks go by it becomes clear that only one party has survived the voyage.

Anh, Thanh, and Minh suddenly find themselves alone in the world, without family or home. They travel on, navigating refugee camps and resettlement centers until, by a twist of fate, they arrive in Thatcher's Britain. Here they must somehow build new lives with only each other to turn to, but will that be enough in a place that doesn't seem to want them?

This is an interesting book. We hear constantly about 'Boat People' but this gives us an insight into their incredible journey, filled with hardship and loss. This book is wonderfully written and thought-provoking. Once I started I found it hard to read but even harder to put down.

Wow - what a book!
I didn't know a lot about the Vietnam War - it was over before I was born but not far enough in the past to be taught in an English school - and while this book isn't hugely about the conflict it is definitely about the experience of war down through the generations.

Following three siblings as they become boat people and then (unwelcome) refugees was moving in itself but when the background and other view points are added in this book became something else completely.
I really hope that it makes the shortlist for the 2023 Women's Prize at the very least.

A book I am going to be forcing into the hands of every reader I know!

Cecile Pin's debut novel, "Wandering Souls," is at its core a tenderhearted story about the least tender of experiences: that of refugee children, separated from their parents and extended family, forced to grow up on their own in a foreign country.

Pin does an excellent job of portraying the loneliness and longing for family that the children experience. They move from the refugee camp in Hong Kong to another in Hampshire, England, their lives always in a state of transit. As Pin writes of Anh, "She wanted a place to call home, not a hut in which people were always coming and going. She wanted to settle, not wander."

Interspersed with the chapters detailing the siblings' attempts to adjust to life in England are documents from Thatcher-era England showing the policies affecting refugees as well as short poem-like passages from the point of a view of a literal ghost, hovering between realms. It is the soul of one of their drowned siblings, now tailing after them and observing them.
As Anh and her brothers grow up, a fifth perspective is introduced, that of Anh's youngest daughter, Jane, who wants to write about her mother's experiences but frets that she doesn't really understand her mother well enough. Jane's chapters reveal the transgenerational trauma passed from mother to daughter, but also the hope for healing.
ARIANE LEBON
Cecile Pin
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Cecile Pin's debut novel, "Wandering Souls," is at its core a tenderhearted story about the least tender of experiences: that of refugee children, separated from their parents and extended family, forced to grow up on their own in a foreign country.

In this case it's 1978 Vietnam and older sister Anh is sent by her parents along with her two younger brothers, Minh and Thanh, to Hong Kong, where the rest of the family plans to reunite. Unfortunately, the parents and younger children perish when their boat capsizes at sea, and the three siblings are orphaned. In the refugee camp in Hong Kong, the three children must fend for themselves and end up being sent to England, rather than to the United States, where an uncle in Connecticut was expecting them.

Pin does an excellent job of portraying the loneliness and longing for family that the children experience. They move from the refugee camp in Hong Kong to another in Hampshire, England, their lives always in a state of transit. As Pin writes of Anh, "She wanted a place to call home, not a hut in which people were always coming and going. She wanted to settle, not wander."

Interspersed with the chapters detailing the siblings' attempts to adjust to life in England are documents from Thatcher-era England showing the policies affecting refugees as well as short poem-like passages from the point of a view of a literal ghost, hovering between realms. It is the soul of one of their drowned siblings, now tailing after them and observing them.

As Anh and her brothers grow up, a fifth perspective is introduced, that of Anh's youngest daughter, Jane, who wants to write about her mother's experiences but frets that she doesn't really understand her mother well enough. Jane's chapters reveal the transgenerational trauma passed from mother to daughter, but also the hope for healing.Pin's prose is quietly powerful, her voice assured, her love for this fictional family apparent on every page.

“I always pictured ghosts as old, wise, playful souls, with lengthy beards and wrinkly skin. It hadn’t occurred to me that there could be seven-year-old ghosts, and yet, here I am.”

My thanks to 4th Estate William Collins for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Wandering Souls’ by Cecile Pin. It was published in March and recently has been longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The novel tells the story of three Vietnamese siblings: Anh, Thanh and Minh, who flee Vietnam not long after the fall of Saigon. It follows their journey to Hong Kong and later to Thatcher’s Britain.

This proved a powerful novel with a focus on political asylum seekers. While primarily set in the late 20th century, it also speaks to the current situation including the increase of violence towards Asians following the pandemic.

The title references a few things: the travels of the siblings as well as the narrative voice of Dao, their deceased youngest brother who is observing them from limbo. Finally, it is the name of the chilling campaign of psychological warfare waged by the American troops against the Vietnamese.

Overall, I found Cecile Pin’s prose lyrical yet quite accessible. I could definitely see this impressive debut novel being on the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

“Everything will be alright, you’ll see,” 16-year-old Thi Anh promises her younger sister Van one night in 1978 as she and two of her brothers leave Vung Tham for a perilous boat journey to Hong Kong.

Her parents have promised to follow with her younger siblings, and once the family reunites, they plan to make their way together to an uncle’s house in America, where they anticipate a much better life ahead.

Three months later, Anh and her brothers are orphaned. They must struggle alone through fetid refugee camps and eventually to their assigned resettlement location in England. They attempt to put on a brave face, but their fear is palpable.

As the siblings adapt to a new language and culture, they must also face many prejudices and open hostility. England, in a Thatcher-ite government, is not a friendly place to be.

The novel shifts among multiple voices and differing yet powerfully poignant perspectives, including those of Anh; her daughter Jane, writing from the present day; the ghost of her brother Dao; two American soldiers involved in the real-life Operation Wandering Soul in 1967; and found historical documents.

Despite the multiple points of view, the story flows splendidly. Pin handles the alternating perspectives skillfully and builds emotion packed tension well, making the reader feel the stresses and strains of the characters as they do.

The story delves into the historical, cultural, psychological, and political stakes of grief and the consequences of intergenerational trauma from war and displacement.

The book's title comes from Vietnamese culture, which calls for a proper burial, and it is believed that if this does not occur, the deceased's soul continues to wander the earth, thus becoming a "Wandering Soul”.

This harrowing and heart wrenching story of Vietnamese refugees, all wandering souls in their own way, seeking to understand the past while searching for hope in the present, is perfectly done. Pin deserves all the acclaim this novel can bring. 5⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy in return for an honest review.

I have an Ukrainian refugee living with me and know from first hand the trauma of escaping from everything you know and love. What it is like learning the stories of those who have not been so lucky. Murdered, raped, and robbed.

In this novel we go back to days of the Boat People some forty years ago. A story less in the news but very pertinent to what is happening in too many places in the world,.

For me the novel is best when it comes to examining the difficulties refugees face in trying to fit into a new society and make their way.

The place they had most wanted to go was America where they had an uncle, but they ended up in London. A liminal space from where they had been and where they wanted to be.

The writing is clear and lucid and never slips into melodrama. It is unsettling to read but I am glad I did.

Thank you to NetGalley, 4th Estate and William Collins, and the author Cecile Pin.

Wandering Souls is the story of Anh and her brother's journey from their village in Vietnam to Britain at the tail end of the 1970's and beyond.

It is certainly an interesting and inventive novel. I have come away from it knowing more about the Vietnam war and its consequences. I wasn't always a fan of the writing, although I believe this to be a personal issue and not an objective criticism. I do however wish that there weren't such large time jumps at times. As a result, I found it hard to completely connect to the story. Regardless, a promising debut.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, 4th Estate and William Collins, and the author Cecile Pin.
This was a harrowing and heart-breaking story of the impacts of war, displacement and immigration that reverberates through generations. Powerfully written and will stay with you.
One quote in particular stayed with me: 'I always come back, not because I am drawn to the horrors but because I feel a visceral need to know them. Knowledge allows remembering and remembering is honouring'.
4 stars.

Wandering Souls tells us the story of 3 siblings who leave Vietnam as refugees. The story begins right when they're about to leave, and we follow them and their family during the trip and beyond.

I really enjoyed this book. Probably "enjoy" is not the right word, as it's a heavy story, but in a strange way it was a page turner for me and I couldn't put it down. The author mixed at times the main story with shorter "notes", from her own thoughts while writing the story to a letter from Margaret Thatcher to a child who is a Vietnamese refugee (in this aspect it reminded me of "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982", which I loved.

I highly recommend that you pick up this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

A novel centred around Anh and two siblings, their flight from Vietnam as the Americans left, via boat, camps and plane to the UK, and life after to the present day. The story is told with some aspects of different time periods mixing, some sections on real-life events at points on their timeline, with the 'disembodied' voice of lost relations.

A powerful narrative and story which shares a story I imagine common to many refugees - of loss for those who didn't make it, guilt and determination in equal measure. Inventive in it's telling with the difference sections and tones blending well. The relatively short sections on different aspects and fragments of the timeframe work well in giving a short novel that works in giving a coherent picture.

Though there are times I would liked a little more detail, that it didn't jump from point to point quiet so quickly. An extra short section on starting life in London, for example. But that doesn't detract from an excellent book.

It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to read this well written and insightful book. The story of a family from Vietnam who try to leave after the Vietnam war as part of what became known as the Vietnam Boat People;
Not all of the family survive the journey and we follow the lives of those who survive and make it to England in the late 1970’s.. A story of people fleeing the aftermath of war that resonates strongly with current events.
We follow the lives of Anh and her two brothers from their arrival in Hong Kong to their eventual lives in the UK in various ways including observations from their dead younger brother watching them from his ghostly world.
A book that should make us think about the lives we have been able to lead and to reflect on those not so fortunate.

Or perhaps I could point fingers. I could blame politics. I could blame war and poverty and pirates and the sea and the storm. But the more I go on, the more I realise that nothing is to blame and everything is to blame, intertwined in a medley of cause and effect, history and nature.

As with every migration story, the heartbreak is endless. The raging battles inside the soul, and the raging battles all around. The fight between being part of two different worlds: your native one and your adoptive one, yet not truly belonging to any of them. Expectations versus reality, the melancholy and the suffering. But every migration story if also full of hope ...if hope could be a source of life..., and resilience, and achievements against all the odds. Of course I've been deeply touched by Anh, Thanh and Minh's story. And I've appreciated reading about a part of the world that is overlooked in this type of novels. But the writing style didn't work for me. The jump from one voice to another, sometime in the middle of a paragraph was rather confusing. After a while I've got used to it, but it was still taking me a moment to realised the narrative has switched to the narrator or another character. Plus the narrator was not evident, who was this narrator? Was it the writer, was it someone else?! And then we have the real history parts, that while fascinating, were once again adding to the confusion by braking the flow of the narrative and also because it was not clear if they were there as clues for the fictional narrative or just because.... Everything becomes clear by the end of the novel, but by that point it is too late, as one won't feel for the characters as deeply as she/he could have otherwise.

*Book from NetGalley with many thanks to the publisher!

I really enjoyed reading Wandering Souls. It was unlike anything I have read before and I must admit I have minimal knowledge of Vietnam and the war so it has taught me a lot.

The book begins by meeting Anh preparing to leave Vietnam by boat to Hong Kong and then on to America where her uncle and family went after the Vietnamese war. It was decided that her and her 2 brothers are to leave first being the oldest, with her parents and 4 younger children joining them a few weeks after.

It soon becomes clear that the second party doesn't make the journey and we begin to follow Anh through her life, refugee camps, resettling in the UK.

I felt for Anh as she was stuck between being an older sister and the role of a mum once they were orphaned. I felt Celcile done amazingly in showing how ashamed and powerless refugees felt and how they had to try and set aside fear and misery and focus on small moments of joy - I especially loved the part when it first snowed in the Hampshire camp as it was so new to them and they were so happy - something most people have always taken for granted.

In between chapters what was different was the true statements from previous governments, news articles and reports from the 80s-present where refugees have been let down. It was particularly horrific reading and remembering about the 39 lorry deaths into the UK.

One last thing i really enjoyed was the descriptions of the food it make my mouth water!

I will be recommending this book to others.

Pick up this novel and you will find it hard to put it down again, and when you have read it, you will find it easy to believe that you have actually been there experiencing the story yourself.

One night, not long after the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh and Minh flee their village and embark on a perilous boat journey to Hong Kong. Their parents and four younger siblings are to make the crossing a week later. After an incredible boat ride to Hong Kong the siblings await the arrival of their parents only to find that they perished. At 15years Anh becomes the head of her family and has to make key decisions.One such decision involves denying her Uncle in the USA As a result Anh and her brothers end up in the UK
This is an incredible story of the original Boat people which is as relevant now as it was then.I love that it is peppered with facts from Thatcher's time. So well written and so warm and emotional. Highly recommend

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin is a stunning and poignant account of an underrepresented part of history. A triumph of a debut!