by Gregory Montoya (Author)
Linh Mai has haunted Les Soze since Vietnam. He blames himself for "his" little girl's death. It's 1989, and guilt has kept him single and childless for twenty years. He tells himself he can't hurt anybody if he restricts his affections to retail sex and keeps his friendships at a distance. But when his father dies, his friend Margo Ledesma watches him break into tears. She urges him to stop fighting his grief. Then Margo suggests their friendship could blossom into romance if he frees his heart. Les panics and tries to escape into the arms of a working girl. Instead, he meets another wounded soul, Lily, the Vietnamese madam in black. Scarred by the same war, Lily hands Les The Tale of Kiều, Nguyễn Du's epic verse that speaks to virtue's sacrifice to survive. She asks Les to read it to understand what broke her into the sex trade. And then to tell her what caught him in the same place. Les is torn between numb isolation and the redemptive promise of Margo's love or refuge with Lily, a kindred spirit.