Join us at the Glendale Branch in conversa
tion with Vietnamese-American author S
usan Lieu as she discusses her memoir\, \;The Manicurist's Dau
ghter.
The King's English Bookshop will be onsite during t
he event \;selling copies of Susan's memoir.
Please register f or this free event!
\n"Susan Lieu has long been searching for answer s. About her family&rsquo\;s past and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War\, Susan&rsquo\;s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival\, Susan&rsquo\;s mother was thei r savvy\, charismatic North Star\, setting up two successful nail salons a nd orchestrating every success―until Susan was eleven. That year\, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. After the funeral\, no one was ever allowed to talk about her or what had happened.
\nFor the next
twenty years\, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions aloneâ€
•why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Wh
y would no one tell her about her mother&rsquo\;s life in Vietnam? And how
did this surgeon\, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants\, go on operating
after her mother&rsquo\;s death? Sifting through depositions\, tracking do
wn the surgeon&rsquo\;s family\, and enlisting the help of spirit channele
rs\, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother\, herself\, and the im
possible ideal of beauty.
The Manicurist&rsquo\;s Daughter<
/em> is much more than a memoir about grief\, trauma\, and body image. It
is a story of fierce determination\, strength in shared culture\, and find
ing your place in the world."
Vietnamese-American author\, playwri ght\, and performer\, Susan Lieu\, takes audiences on a journey of healing intergenerational trauma\, embracing authenticity\, and finding boldness in vulnerability. Her debut memoir\, The Manicurist&rsquo\;s Daughter (Cel adon)\, is an Apple Book Pick of the Month\, a 2024 Best Book of Smithsoni an\, NPR\, and Elle Magazine\, and has received accolades from The New Yor k Times and The Washington Post. She was recently named one of Seattle Mag azine&rsquo\;s Most Influential People of 2024. Lieu is the creator of her theatrical solo show "140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother\," which recei ved critical acclaim from LA Times\, NPR\, and American Theatre. The co-fo under of Socola Chocolatier\, Susan is a proud alumnus of Harvard College\ , Yale School of Management\, and Hedgebrook. \;
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