Winner of CBC Canada Reads 2015, Ru is set against two of the most dramatic events of the last century – the Viet Nam war and the great migration of boat people from Southeast Asia.
Despite the harsh realities of postwar Viet Nam, the dangerous sea voyage in an overloaded boat and the grim conditions of refugee camps, this autobiographical first novel describes in poetical prose the narrator’s journey from post war Viet Nam to 1970s Quebec.
Ground-breaking in style, Ru won the 2010 Governor-General’s Literary Award in the French language category, among other awards. It has been sensitively translated into English by the multi-award winning Sheila Fischman.