PRESS RELEASE FROM AMAZONENCORE: SECOND EDITION OF "DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG"

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Liza Lucas, Goldberg McDuffie Communications

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DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG

Stories of a Vietnamese Royal Concubine and Her Descendants

by Uyen Nicole Duong

  

More than 30 years have passed since 16-year-old Uyen Nicole Duong won the Republic of Vietnam’s National Honor Prize for Literature—and then narrowly escaped the fall of Saigon a mere month later. This spring, Duong returns to her native land and literary roots with a debut novel: DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG (Amazon Encore; April 12, 2011), a century-long tale which captures the richly complex history of Vietnam and its people.

 Through the eyes of Simone, a precocious and passionate teenager, Duong presents the complicated and mystical pasts of four generations of Vietnamese women: Huyen Phik, the Mystique Concubine from the extinct Kingdom of Champa, her daughters, Madame Cinnamon and Ginseng, and finally, Simone’s own mother.  From the monarchy to French colonialism, American intervention to the fall of Saigon and Communist rule, Simone and her ancestors’ lives are scarred by the years of political upheaval preceding the Vietnam War. From peasants to royals, from royals to rebels, the descendants’ trials and turmoil parallels the unrest, volatility and powerful resilience of Vietnam and its myriad population.

Duong, a Harvard graduate and the first Vietnamese American appointed as a judge in the United States, presents this carefully crafted tale coupled with history and experience from her own life: 

• Her firsthand account of the fall of Saigon; Duong escaped the city on a cargo plane in 1975, leaving behind many of her loved ones as well as copies of her first novella, a love story for young adults, fresh off the press and awaiting distribution by her beloved grandfather.
• Her inspiration for DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG; how her past influences her writing and painting on l’Art Brut today (select images on amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/Uyen-Nicole-Duong/e/B004GVBMLK). 
• How her profession as a lawyer has influenced her writing; Duong is the first Vietnamese American appointed as a judge in the United States and served as an associate municipal judge and magistrate in Texas in the early 1990s.  She resigned from the bench to pursue writing and to become an international lawyer.    
• Her research on human trafficking in Southeast Asia; how Duong proposed both legal and non-legal measures to combat this global problem.  

 A memorable debut that romance and history lovers alike will relish, DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG offers a portrait of Vietnamese culture that is not to be missed.

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DAUGHTERS OF THE RIVER HUONG

by Uyen Nicole Duong
AmazonEncore: April 12, 2011; $13.95 print; $7.99 digital