Standing in the kitchen one day, a young woman discovers that her tiny, elderly Hmong mother is not who she appears to be.
Yia grew up with a traditional mother who wanted her to marry, raise a family, tend a garden, and cook Hmong food. Yia wanted freedom. The two had little in common, except their opposition to each other.
In a seemingly ordinary moment in Mom’s kitchen, Yia had a sudden awakening. She watched her mother move from pot to pot with the instinctive grace of a symphony conductor, knowing exactly how to bring out the best in every ingredient. As these moments repeated, they grew closer. Mom began to reveal her life, and with each meal prepared and memory shared, Yia’s roots started to take shape in the family history she never knew.
In this epic mother-daughter love story, their parallel lives merge as each becomes the nutrient the other needs to navigate life’s trials and guide one another back home. When Yia truly looked at her mother, she finally saw her for who she was: daughter, wife, mother, warrior, survivor, woman, Hmong.
What People Are Saying:
“This is perfect for lovers of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and Crying in H Mart. Mother-daughter relationships are rough country, but this author’s discovery of her mother’s extraordinary story in midlife offers nothing but hope. Connection is always possible.”
—Beth Wareham,
author of Hair Club Burning and The Power of No
“After arriving here as a baby in her mother’s arms and growing up American, Yia’s book recounts how she reconnected with her mother and her Hmong heritage through food and cooking, as well as a newfound appreciation of her mother’s simple courage and tenacity. The roots of our being are not just psychological but grow from culture, ancestry, and family lineage, and they are all the more nourishing with acknowledgement and attention.”
—Edward Espe Brown,
Zen Buddhist priest, author of The Tassajara Bread Book
BOOK PUBLISHES JANUARY 28, 2025