First edition published by Coffee House Press in 2008.
Contents:
Prologue -- Seeking refuge -- People of the sky -- A walk in the jungle -- Enemy camp -- Refugees -- The little girl with the dimples -- Ban Vinai Refugee Camp -- The second leaving -- Phanat Nikhom Transition Camp to America -- A return to the clouds -- The American years -- Before the babies -- Coming of the son -- The haunted Section-8 house -- Our moldy house -- The latehomecomer -- When the tiger comes -- Preparations -- Good-bye to Grandma -- Walking back alone -- Epilogue.
Summary:
In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard. Beginning in the 1970s, as the Hmong were being massacred for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War, Yang recounts the harrowing story of her family's captivity, the daring rescue undertaken by her father and uncles, and their narrow escape into Thailand where Yang was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. When she was six years old, Yang's family immigrated to America, and she captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new language. Through her words, the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community have finally found a voice.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.