ONE BOOK NORTHLAND COMMUNITY EVENT GUIDE Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s (Chu’s) childhood is marked by the violence of the United States’ Secret War and the CIA recruitment of the Hmong and other ethnic minorities into the lost cause of the Vietnam War. Fearing for their lives, Tswb and her family leave everything they know behind and flee for the jungle. Tswb crosses paths with her eventual husband, Npis (Bee) and joins him at a refugee camp. To do so, Tswb must leave her own mother behind, a choice that will haunt her the rest of her life. While at the camp, Tswb becomes a mother herself, raising her daughters in a state of constant fear and hunger until they are able to emigrate to the United States. Once safely in the US, the determined couple enroll in high school at nearly 30 years old and work grueling jobs to provide for their children. Decades later, Kao Kalia Yang chronicles her mother’s astonishing saga with tenderness and clarity. Tswb’s personal experience with war and survival is wholly unique and yet offers readers a crucial reminder of the endurance and grit required of all refugees in order to make a new life for themselves. “Haunting and painfully relevant” (Booklist), Where Rivers Part is destined to become a classic.
Visit your local library or bookstore for copies of the book to check out or purchase!
Author Talk with Kao Kalia Yang Wednesday, April 23 • 6:30-8:00 pm University of Minnesota Duluth, Bohannon Hall
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