I had no idea how lonely it would be to sit in my cave and type, for years and years. So I quit and started writing short stories, which is a fancy way of saying I quit and waited tables for a long, long time.Ĭould you share some of the challenges or surprises you’ve experienced as a writer? No one was asking me to turn in soaring prose. I was a cub reporter on the evening police beat. Well, journalism is about getting the facts (how, when, why, what) and making deadline. One day I decided it would be really cool to sit around and craft sentences. What made you shift into fiction or were you always writing that too? You majored in journalism and worked as a reporter. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap. But when she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh.

She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her. Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. In a split second, baby Linh is ripped from her arms-and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country. Publisher’s Summary: Butterfly Yellow tells the story of the final days of the Việt Nam War, when Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. We’re pleased that she took time to answer a few questions about her book and her writing. She’s ventured into the world of YA with her newest novel Butterfly Yellow released earlier this month. Thanhhà Lại is an award winning author of the middle grade books Inside Out & Back Again and Listen, Slowly.

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lại