“Like a strip of curtain between the dead and the living, Fire Summer is at once ephemeral and expansive. A haunting debut from a writer whose characters, lovingly described, pass not only through rivers and airports, but also despair and separation. We are ferried with them to the other side – one where the fractured are finally come home.” Uzma Aslam Khan, author of Trespassing and Thinner Than Skin

“‘What is the shape of one’s life when one’s action is based on love?’ So asks a character in Thuy Da Lam’s lyrical novel, Fire Summer, a work that shows us the Vietnam beyond the war movies. Lam deftly explores the slippery interplay between heritage and identity, history and duty, ultimately proving that each of us is so much more than the places we come from. An important debut.” Quan Barry, author of She Weeps Each Time You’re Born

“In Fire Summer, past and present blend with here and there in ways that continually surprise, yet somehow seem destined. Vietnam is the setting and the legacy for the returning expatriate Maia, and for an entourage of vivid characters who encounter and reencounter each other as they travel from the shores to the mountains, searching for family, closure, and a home. A beautiful, funny, and stunning novel that will reward repeated reading.” Craig Howes, author of Voices of the Vietnam POWs: Witnesses to Their Fight

“Fire Summer delivers a war-ravaged Vietnam rich in history, folklore, the tragedy of families torn asunder, and the beauty of Buddhist wisdom that connects the living and dead. Suspenseful, Thuy Da Lam’s story of Maia Trieu’s journey home is an impressive debut.” Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage

“A girl plucked from the high seas off Vietnam is sent as a young woman to connect with an aging guerilla faction. A detective story, a quest for the mythic heart of Vietnam on its stones and soil – a novel of rare beauty.” Robert Onopa, author of The Pleasure Tube

“Thuy Da Lam paints a vibrant portrait of post-war Vietnam, illuminating both the dangers and the great beauty of a country in the process of healing itself.” Kristine Huntley, Booklist

“Funny, absurd, and tragic by turns, this short novel adds to the body of Vietnamese American writing—and other American Vietnam literature—that is one of the positive legacies of a war that such literature will long outlast.” Mark A. Heberle, “The Vietnam War and Its Legacy,” War and American Literature

“Book Review: Fire Summer.” Janet J. Graham, diaCRITICS https://diacritics.org/2019/09/book-review-fire-summer/

“Not Just Another Back-to-Vietnam Story.” Don Wallace, Honolulu Magazine http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/December-2019/7-Local-Hawaii-Books-to-Solve-Your-Gift-Giving-Gap-This-Holiday/

“Không Chỉ Là Một Câu Chuyện Trở Về Lại Việt Nam.” Van Ngo, diaCRITICS https://diacritics.org/2020/03/khong-chi-la-mot-cau-chuyen-tro-ve-lai-viet-nam/