'Fantastic' The Sunday Times * 'Beautiful, brilliant, powerful' Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

Part ghost story, part searing exploration of Vietnam's colonial past, Violet Kupersmith's debut novel is a must read for fans of Cecile Pin, NoViolet Bulowayo or Ruth Ozeki

Two young Vietnamese women go missing decades apart. Both are fearless, both are lost. And both will have their revenge.

1986: The teenage daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese family gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation while fleeing her angry father, and is forever changed by the experience.

2011: Twenty-five years later, a young, unhappy Vietnamese-American disappears from her new home in Saigon without a trace.

The fates of both women are inescapably linked, bound together by past generations, by ghosts and ancestors, by the history of possessed bodies and possessed lands. Violet Kupersmith's heart-pounding fever dream of a novel hurtles through the ghostly secrets of Vietnamese history to create an immersive, playful, utterly unforgettable debut.

'Fiction as daring and accomplished as Violet Kupersmith's first novel reignites my love of the form and its kaleidoscopic possibilities' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

Feverishly energetic and playfully creepy, an unforgettable debut that hurtles through the ghostly secrets of Vietnamese history

About the Author

Violet Kupersmith is the author of the short story collection The Frangipani Hotel. She previously taught English with the Fulbright programme in the Mekong Delta, and was a creative writing fellow at the University of East Anglia. She has lived in Da Lat and Saigon, and is currently based in the United States. Her first novel, Build Your House Around My Body, was a Finalist for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize in 2021.

Reviews

'A fantastic debut... A wonderfully ambitious novel about death, snakes and female revenge...recounted with a rich, hypnotic lyricism.' The Sunday Times

'Loved this epic book - beautiful, brilliant, powerful, and shivery-back-of-the-neck terrifying.' Madeline Miller, author of Circe

'Violet Kupersmith's Build Your House Around My Body weaves together Vietnamese folklore and ghosts into a visceral and brilliant read.' Stylist

'Fiction as daring and accomplished as Violet Kupersmith's first novel reignites my love of the form and its kaleidoscopic possibilities.' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

'I am loving Build Your House Around My Body... it's really difficult to believe this is a debut novel.' Jen Campbell, author of The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night

'Build Your House Around My Body is such an innovative, brilliant, haunting and compelling read.' Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing

'A book a bit like the creatures within. It has fangs and claws. It horrifies and charms. It is the sort of book you force on your friends, just so you can talk to them about it.' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days

'A marvellous, confounding debut that moves from eerie Vietnamese forests to rundown zoos and crowded nightclubs... A hugely impressive debut.' Guardian

'A labyrinthine, shape-shifting novel, deep in magical realism territory.' New Internationalist

'Creepy, exciting, moving, insanely funny: a sweat-soaked reading delight... An absolute triumph of storytelling.' Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and the City

'Intricately plotted, flamboyantly original... By turns steamy, grisly, comic, horrific, and touching. This literally haunting tale will stay with you long after the last page is turned.' Valerie Martin, author of Property

'Dazzling... I had the sense that Violet Kupersmith's eerie and electric debut novel was spreading beyond the bounds of the page and seeping into my life... A thrilling read, acrobatic and filled with verve.' New York Times

'What a joy to return to the numinously spooky world of [Violet] Kupersmith and find the ghosts of history and family still haunting her pages... Gorgeous, completely original, and quite disturbing, usually all three at the same time.' Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times-bestselling author of Booth

Awards
Short-listed for Center for Fiction First Novel Award 2021. Long-listed for Women's Prize for Fiction 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9780861542147
Author Violet Kupersmith
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Oneworld Publications
Publisher Oneworld Publications