Ocean Vuong returns with an achingly beautiful novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive
One summer evening in the town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.
The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which our lives are changed by the most unexpected of people. When Hai takes a job at a diner to support himself and Grazina, his fellow workers become the family he didn’t expect to find. United by desperation and circumstance, and existing on the fringes of society, together they bear witness to each other’s survival.
A masterful story of friendship and how much we’re willing to risk to possess one of life’s most treasured mercies: a second chance.
Categories: Contemporary fiction; General and literary fiction.
Reading Age: Adult.
RRP: Paperback in 416 pages NZ$38.00.
Imprint Jonathan Cape and published in NZ by Penguin Random House New Zealand.
