The thing I love about historical fiction books is that you always seem to learn something new or learn something from a different perspective. This was a very interesting read and I enjoyed the characters in the book. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

The amount of research gone into this novel by the author is apparent and much appreciated. The Vietnam War is not a period of time I am familiar with; it always seemed like the end of school term would arrive as we approached this era. The title is perfect and so fitting to what these sisters endure; the bend in the river, a time of absolute change as two sisters endure the tragedies of their village being burned, murder of loved ones, and facing an uncertain future. The juxtaposition of the sisters' personalities is perfectly suited, highlighting all the more the ebb and flow of their lives; I felt that neither ever got a chance to catch their breath or process all that was happening, but in a time such as this, and at some points of our lives, this is what happens. It is heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, heart-warming story that is still speaking to me. Read it as a history lesson, read it as a powerful story, read it as both.

Vietnam. 1968.

A peaceful village by the Mekong is destroyed by American soldiers. The only survivors of this brutal attack are sisters, Mai, and Tam.

Traumatized and orphaned, the two sisters are suddenly dependent on their own mettle for survival.

Making their way to Saigon, they are given work from a sympathetic restaurant owner, set up in a refugee camp, and attempt a precarious existence in their new reality.

Older, serious-minded Tam is bent on survival. Younger, idealist Mai is seeking a finer life.

An irreparable rift separates the two and each goes off on their own to face their uncertain futures.

After meeting an influential figure with an agenda, Tam is persuaded to fight for the North. After years on the run and hiding from the law, Tam feels aged. She is tired of being alone and longs for sanctuary.

Mia’s beauty pays off working in a Saigon bar frequented by lonely, thirsty American GIs. After an emotional rejection, Mai has more at stake than ever and is desperate to find security and safety.

A bending of events brings both sisters to America where once again, they must each rely on their own wits and grit...until fate finally decides to criss-cross their paths.

A magnificently written novel of courage, sacrifice, survival, and ultimately family fidelity.

Highly recommend A Bend in the River.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Red Herrings Press, for the read of Libby Fischer Hellmann's. A Bend in the River.

An amazing story of two sisters who witnessed their parents shot and their village burned to the ground by the Americans. in the Vietnam war. “They’d claimed to be looking for VCs, Viet Cong fighters and their enablers, to retaliate against Tet. “.

Mai and Tam had been washing their clothes in a nearby river and went to their village to investigate when they heard the shots. The ran and hid, surviving the impossible.. Luck was on their side when they encountered a father and son in a boat on the river. Their adventures continue. As time passes the two sister took very different turns in their choices and lost touch.

The book provides insights of the Vietnam War. It is highly emotional, a story you won’t forget. I highly recommend reading this book, the authors writing will consume you.

As a Vietnamese, I was intrigued to see a book about, what we call, The American War written by a white author here, with two main Vietnamese characters.

From what I saw, the epub copy I received is unedited, which might explain the poorly accented Vietnamese and French words. I recommend using full Vietnamese marks for all the words, or not using them at all. Some translations aren't entirely correct, for example, the word "đấu tranh" shouldn't be translated to "struggling" in this scenario, "fighting" and other synonyms would do.

I appreciate the historical research of the author about Vietnam, because I didn't found any faults. The plot isn't appealing enough for me though, the characters are too stereotypical for someone who has read a lot about the wars in Vietnam (me). I believe there are still readers that would find this book good enough, I'm just sorry it was not for me.

Historical fiction can often educate the reader to different events from points of view with which we are unfamiliar. The Vietnam War disrupted life in America, but what was the impact on the Vietnamese? Tam and Mai are sisters from the Mekong Delta. After experiencing the massacre of their entire village by the Americans, they make their way to Saigon. Each sister takes a completely different path, in their efforts to survive. Well written and and an important book to begin to help,us understand the impact of war. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I...I don't know how to say some of the things that I want to say about this book without it sounding harsh and rude, so I'm just going to be honest.

A Bend In the River by Libby Fischer Hellmann is a historical fiction story of two south Vietnamese sisters during the Vietnam War. After their family and village are destroyed by American GIs, the sisters flee to Saigon and start new lives. Splitting after a few weeks, Tam joins the Viet Cong and Mai becomes a bargirl, catering to American GIs at the Stardust Lounge. Years and year go, the sisters face hardship after hardship, love after love, friendship after friendship.

*Sigh. Here is goes. While this story is touching and shows the strength of women, it's hard to read a book - however well written and researched - about the survival of a Vietnamese woman when it's written by a white (white presenting?) American woman. (I do see that there was a Vietnamese editor) Fully understanding that Hellmann has a long career as a journalist and well researched writer, I may not be the target audience - because one of those Saigon bargirls - was my mom. My mom, who left her family and young daughters in the south of Vietnam, to go to Saigon to try for something else. My mom who met an American GI and married him. My mom who lived in a room with another bargirl...who remained her friend until that friend's death earlier this year.

The struggle of immigrants is such a specific type of story that it's hard when others try and tell it. Hearing my mom tell me a five minute story about going to the movies the day before she left for America did more for me than the 400 pages of this book. Fully understanding it's BECAUSE of my personal connection, I still think that immigrant stories should belong to immigrants.

Libby Fischer Hellmann is a talented writer and I am going to try some of her Chicago crime series. This, however, wasn't for me. If I want an immigrant story, I'll just call home.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

this was a really interesting read, I liked the characters and I really loved the setting in the book. I look forward to more from the author.

After their village is burned to the ground by American soldiers, sisters Mai and Tam escape down the Mekong river. In Saigon, Tam finds work in a restaurant, while Mai Mai becomes a bar girl, flirting and drinking with American soldiers. Disgusted, Tam parts ways with Mai and ends up training and fighting with the Viet Cong.

This felt very much like an Americanized story. I enjoyed the story itself, and reading about the two different paths, but somehow the book lacked authenticity. Mai and Tam felt very western. Overall, a bust.

Thank you Netgalley and The Red Herrings Press for an ARC of A Bend in the River by Libby Fischer Hellmann for an honest review of the book.
This is the first historical fiction novel I've read about the Vietnam war and the effect it had on the citizens of the North and South Vietnam countries. We as Americans have heard lots through the American mind but have heard little of the circumstances and consequences on the individuals of those countries. This book opens those pages to us so we can catch a glimpse of their loss of family and homes.
A Bend in the River is the story of two sisters, Tam and Mai, ages 14 and 10. Their village is burned to the ground by Americans believing it is supporting the Viet Cong. Tam and Mai are the sole survivers of the village which leaves the two young girls to find a way to live. So they head out to Saigon. Tam is headstrong and a leader so expects Mai to follow. Mai knows she is not the oldest but also knows that she can make her own choices. This causes a rift and the sisters are estranged and don't know if either is alive for over 10 years. Mai becomes a bar girl at a local bar that caters to American servicemen. Tam fuels her anger for what happened to her family and starts working for the Viet Cong.
Libby Fischer writes strong characters with a view not thought of and makes the reader consider options they have never had to face before. Amazing novel and worth a read for anyone.
#Netgalley #ABendintheRiver#TheRedHerringsPress

A Bend In the River by Libby Fischer Hellmann

Seeing Vietnam through the eyes of these two sisters during and after the war was eye-opening and mind-expanding. This book had me re-examining my interpretation of my relatives’s experiences, stationed there after Mei Li, a defining point. Being on the journey with the sisters, both together and separately, presented an interpretation of the times I’d not truly considered. Get this book and journey back with Tam and Mei through Vietnam 4-5 decades ago. It’s necessary and it’s thought-provoking.

~Thank you NetGalley and The Red Herrings Press for sending me an e-ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.~
Rating: 5/5

Mai and Tam are two sisters in wartime Vietnam, 1968, who struggle for survival after their small village is destroyed by the Americans and their family is slaughtered. Mai and Tam, even before this tragedy, have not had the best relationship; tensions finally build and boil over, leaving the sisters estranged from each other, each taking separate paths to salvation: Mai, to become a bar girl hanging on the arms of American GIs, and Tam, to become a fighter for the North, to destroy the Americans who took everything from her.

I could not put this book down. Everything from the development of Mai and Tam from girls to women, to the story-telling, was impeccable. There was not a single moment that I found myself bored or skipping ahead to get to the "meat" of the story. It keeps you on your toes, always guessing and wondering what will happen to the sisters next; without spoiling anything, I can say that it was a very unpredictable ending.

Mai and Tam are so different and unique in their attitudes and actions and Ms. Hellmann portraited that perfectly. The way she describes the scenes make you feel like you're right there with the sisters, living through their hardships, your heart breaking when theirs do. She shows you the realities of what lives were like for the Vietnamese unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire of the "American War," how drastically things can change for the worst, and how quickly people can die.

This is the first novel I have ever read by Ms. Hellmann, and I can only hope the rest of her novels are as extraordinary. I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of A Bend in The River--you won't be disappointed.

American soldiers overrun a village. There are few survivors. What happens to the girls as they struggle to survive. Many memories and hardships on both sides. Excellent book!

A Bend in the River is the story of 2 young girls who are orphaned and painfully watch as their home and village are destroyed. The Vietnam War is a horribly dark time in our history and this story is a well researched book about this part of history. It examines the lives of these 2 sisters during the despair and heartache of the War.. As they flee from the desruction, they reach Saigon where they are separated and go on to live their lives the best they can. This is a remarkable story of perseverance, loyalty and love. Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for a honest review. Thank you! I loved this book.

The story of two young sisters in 1968 who are orphaned and homeless after an attack on their village in Vietnam. Their future lead them to take different paths and they lost touch.
I enjoyed this book and it taught me a lot about the Vietnam War and the choices that young girls had to make to survive.
Thank you to NetGalley and The Red Herrings Press for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was not a popular war, opposing sides here in America for and against the war made for difficult times. There aren't many books written about Vietnam and while they are far and few between, this novel was very interesting. About two sisters who flee to Saigon after their entire village is destroyed by American GI's. Ms. Hellmann''s research was on point . This story of survival and what it takes to survive kept me glued to the book. Highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Bend in The River by Libby Fischer Hellman, due out 7 October, 2020

Two sisters, Mai and Tam, 14 and 17, are propelled from their village into Saigon after their family is massacred during what the Vietnamese call the American War. They take very different paths through the last five years of the war and are both forced to find a way out when the North Vietnamese win.

What I liked most about the book was its pace. I found myself reading much more per session than I’d intended to and, even if each chapter didn’t end on cliff-hanger, I cared enough about Mai and Tam to keep reading. The sisters’ mutual dependence and their arguments, which is central to the plot, were also a strong point. They spend most of the action separated: this is the type of bust-up that has to be understated, and the author pulls it off with aplomb.

I enjoyed the subsidiary characters, the kind Co Thac and mysterious and faintly sinister Dr. Hang. And the brutality of the war – on all sides – was well depicted without being gratuitous. I loved the way the intrigues played out, the way in which you never quite knew who you could trust and who you couldn’t, the confusion and disorientation that brings.

Where the book fell down was on the tiny details of Vietnam in the early 1970s. As the author says in her notes, although it may be presumptuous of an American to write of the war through the eyes of Vietnamese girls, it is equally important to give a voice to those who were caught up in that war. But, to be fully convincing, the details matter.

The book starts in March and “the hottest part of the year was approaching” but, in Vietnam and throughout Indochina, March is already well into the hottest part of the year (the monsoon normally hits in late May or June and cools things down). The sisters have an “unplanned” brother – but family planning was a non-concept fifty years ago in Indochina. They later pick up and eat a jackfruit as if it were an orange: a jackfruit weighs three to twenty pounds and has a hard, armoured skin with spikes. You cannot open one without a knife and can barely pick one up without gloves. Later on, Mai acquires a scooter, yet scooters were a luxury item back then, and it’s not at all clear where she found the means to acquire one.

I also felt there was some lazy writing where it most needed to be vigorous: bringing Saigon to life. “Inside [the market], over a hundred stalls exploded with sights, sounds, colours, and scents.” “Exploded” is a cliché – and a somewhat dubious one in a war book – but the author does not show us those sights, sounds, colours and scents. Contrast this with the detailed description of Dr. Hang’s apartment at the beginning of Chapter 16

"The sofa was soft and velvety. The walls were covered with light gray wallpaper woven through with shiny silver branches and leaves. Silk, she thought. A low table with a glass surface and a polished wood base sat in front of the sofa. Two upright chairs, also polished wood flanked it. Gold sconces with white tapered candles hung from the walls. Light grey curtains that matched the wallpaper filtered the light but didn’t keep it out, and a thick oriental carpet in the middle of the room picked up those colours and more. The portion of the floor not covered by the carpet looked to be marble. Fresh flowers with white, yellow, pink and blue blossoms were arranged in vases."

A marvellous description – but for a room that, to most readers, is already of a known type. The market, which is outside many readers’ experience and which forms an important part of the narrative, is a blank space by comparison. And other nice touches, such as Tam’s car-tyre sandals, show that the author can bring scenes to life.

A Bend in The River is an ambitious book and one that fills a lacuna. The above minor gripes aside, it is well written and moves at a cracking pace: well worth the read.

Thanks to netgalley for ARC copy

In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The sole survivors of the brutal massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl, but Tam’s anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong. For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her crime thrillers, Libby Fischer Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war.

What a wonderful read. Broke my heart at start and also at end. Hellman has researched this book well. I wanted to read this book as was lucky enough to go to the north of Vietnam 20 years ago and stayed on the Mekong River. I have never met such friendly people, and was interesting to read how they suffered.
Highly recommend

#ABendintheRiver #NetGalley

A Bend in the River derives its name from the Mekong River in Vietnam. In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters witness the murder of all the members of their village, and the village is burned to the ground by American soldiers searching for Viet Cong. The sisters, Tam and Mai, flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. They steal a sampan and start paddling toward Saigon. Tam is older, more serious, scholarly while Mai is younger, flippant, and self-centered. Their personality differences lead them to very different life choices and ideologies. The bend in the river represents the vastly different turns their lives take after a relationship-ending argument. Tam heads into the jungle to help the Viet Cong while Mai becomes a bar girl, then a prostitute.

The reunion of the two sisters seems a bit too coincidental; however, I enjoyed the insights into the Vietnam War and seeing it “from the other side.”