Seekers of Deer Creek - Thao Thai

TWO SISTERS. ONE PAINTING. A LONG-LOST SECRET.

From the bestselling author of Banyan Moon comes a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by a forgotten Vietnamese artist that holds the truth of their family's fractured past.

'Beautiful . . . a kind of ghost story wound through with artistic passion, a legacy of violence, and the indelible intimacy of sisterhood' Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich


'The most achingly beautiful novel I've read in a long time' Amy Jo Burns, author of Wait For Me


Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common.

Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, carefully preserving pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history.

Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. She's an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, charming and intriguing everyone she meets. She's also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.

Months after the two fall out in the wake of their father's death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their father's belongings. The sketch is an exact copy of Blue Mirror, a striking painting by a Surrealist Vietnamese painter named K.P. Lý. In the letter, Lý writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their father's deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether she's willing to face or shut the door to the past.

From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a disintegrating ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Việt Nam, The Seekers of Deer Creek is a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the past-how it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried

PRAISE FOR THAO THAI

'Thao Thai is a major talent' Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing
'Riveting . . . Magnetic' Elle, Best Books of 2023
'Beautifully written . . . a joy to read' Christina Baker Kline, author of The Exiles
'Haunting, a little spooky and occasionally heartbreaking' Good Housekeeping, Best Books of 2023