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Synopsis
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 play each note and bring out the best in every ingredient. As these moments repeated, mother and daughter 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. The food of her childhood became the food that brought her home.
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.
Author Bio
Yia was born in a refugee camp in Thailand after her family escaped persecution in Laos following the Secret War. She grew up pursuing the American dream, only to come full circle and rebegin where her roots are, realizing that is where home starts. Yia graduated with a BS in communication from the University of California, Davis. She dedicates her life to creating conditions for human flourishing. Through personal stories and a deeply subtle, nuanced view of womanhood, she invites readers to expand their ideas of intimacy and lineage.