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LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION

‘A mighty achievement’ OCEAN VUONG

‘Beautiful, brilliant’ R. F. KUANG

‘Dazzling’
OBSERVER

‘Will shatter your heart’
GLAMOUR

‘Powerful’
SUNDAY TIMES

An extraordinary story of the journey of one young family through love, loss and unwavering hope.

There are the goodbyes and then the fishing out of the bodies – everything in between is speculation.

One night, not long after the last American troops leave Vietnam, siblings Anh, Thanh and Minh flee their village and embark on a perilous journey in hope of a new life. Separated from their parents and fearing the worst they find themselves travelling alone in the world without a home to return to. After a twist of fate lands them in Thatcher’s Britain, they must somehow build new lives there. Will the love they have for each other be enough to keep them together?

Wandering Souls is a stunning, life-affirming testament to the healing power of stories.

A Time and Guardian book of the year

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2023

‘Poignant and lyrical’ DAVID NICHOLLS

‘A powerful story of courage, love and unwavering hope’
MARIE CLAIRE

‘Beautiful… I loved every word’ PHILIPPA PERRY

‘A deeply affecting reckoning with history’
i-D

‘Tells one of the most important stories of our times’ LUCY CALDWELL

‘Special … Reading it is like watching a writer at work’
NEW YORK TIMES

Publisher Review

'A debut in name only, Wandering Souls is an astute and sure-footed excavation of family, selfhood, and loss in the shadow of colonial violence. It is also a deeply humane and genre-defying work of love and uncompromising hope through a long-overdue portrayal of Vietnamese life in the UK. A mighty achievement' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous 'A heartbreaking novel about Vietnamese siblings who arrive as refugees to Thatcher's Britain. Chronicling the family's life right up until the present day, it's a deeply affecting reckoning with history' i-D Magazine, Books to watch out for 'Meticulously researched and beautifully imagined, Wandering Soul is a deeply affecting debut, a restless inquiry into the nature of loss, kinship and survival' Tash Aw, author of We, the Survivors 'Clear-hearted and moving, Wandering Souls tells one of the most important stories of our times, and you can feel, as you read, all it has taken Pin to write it' Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days 'Wandering Souls is deeply moving and deeply generous. Pin writes about the Vietnamese diaspora in the UK - its past and its present - with love and care. I cried reading it' Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of there are more things 'A searing, sweeping and intimate story of such heart and scope. Measured, multilayered and beautiful ' Rachel Long, author of My Darling from the Lions 'A beautiful meditation on the ties that bind us and the circumstances that separate us' Helena Lee, editor of East Side Voices 'This deeply affecting novel charts one family's displacement, estrangement, and return: loss passed on like an inheritance to successive generations. Wandering Souls is more than testament, more than fiction. I am full of admiration' Jeet Thayil, author of Narcopolis