Past Worlds Book Club Lausanne

Our first book: The Mountains Sing by Phan Quế Mai

What can a family story teach us about a country’s history?

For our first Historical Fiction Book Club meeting, we’ll travel to Vietnam through The Mountains Sing, a sweeping story following a Vietnamese family across generations through some of the country’s most turbulent periods of the 20th century.

We’ll discuss the novel itself — the characters, family relationships and storytelling — as well as the history behind the fiction and how seeing these events through a Vietnamese perspective can shape our understanding of them.

🌏 No prior knowledge of Vietnamese history required.
📖 No history expertise required.

Haven’t read the book yet, or haven’t finished it? That’s absolutely fine — come along for the discussion!