THREE FUNERALS FOR MY FATHER
Love, Loss and Escape from Vietnam
Author: Jolie Phuong Hoang
Shortlisted for the 2022 Hamilton Literary Awards.
What would you risk to save your children?
Jolie Hoang grew up as one of ten children, part of a loving, prosperous Vietnamese family. All that changed when the communists took over in 1975; the family lived in constant fear of being sent to the dreaded “new economic zone.” Desperate to ensure the family’s safety and to provide a future for his children, Jolie’s father arranged three separate escapes. The first was a failure that cost most of their fortune, but the second was successful—six of his children reached Indonesia and ultimately settled in Canada. He and his youngest daughter drowned during the disastrous third attempt.
Alternately told from the author’s perspective and that of her father’s ghost, Three Funerals for My Father is a poignant story of love, grief and resilience that spans three countries and fifty years. It is an intimate story of one family, a testament to the collective experience of the “boat people” who escaped communist Vietnam, and a plea on behalf of the millions of refugees currently seeking asylum across the globe.
- Non-fiction, 232pp
- ISBN 978-1-990160-04-2 (paperback)
- ISBN 978-1-990160-05-9 (ebook)
- 5.5″ x 8.5″
- Published October 2021
- Paperback: CA $21.95 / US $17.95
- Ebook: CA $8.95 / US $5.95
Hoang’s memoir is a moving tribute to her father’s memory and the lengths he took to make sure his family was safe.
. . . experiences come to life in a rare look at sacrifices made during the quest for freedom, providing an intimate examination of hardship and courage that should be on the shelves of any collection