The Tapestries (2002) by Kien Nguyen is a sweeping historical novel that traces three generations of a Vietnamese family through the tumult of the 20th century, from the fading grandeur of the imperial court to the chaos of war and revolution.
The story begins with Dan, a young mixed-race boy born to a Vietnamese mother and a French father, who grows up in the shadow of his family’s once-great tapestry workshop in Hanoi. As French colonial rule crumbles and the Vietnam War erupts, Dan’s life becomes entangled with political upheaval, forbidden love, and the struggle to preserve his ancestral craft—a metaphor for Vietnam’s fraying cultural identity.
Nguyen, himself a Vietnamese refugee, weaves lush prose with brutal realism, exposing the scars of colonialism, communism, and displacement. The tapestries—literal and symbolic—become a canvas for memory, loss, and resilience.
For readers of: The Sympathizer (Viet Thanh Nguyen), Pachinko (Min Jin Lee), or The Beauty of Humanity Movement (Camilla Gibb).
