In the 1990s, Cabramatta was a cautionary tale: newspapers reported fearful tales of gang violence and the drug epidemic that was sweeping the south-western Sydney suburb. But to countless Vietnamese diaspora, like author Tracey Lien, Cabramatta was home.
“When I think back, it’s a very positive place, but it’s a very complicated place,” the 34-year-old says via Zoom from New York City, where she now lives. “I really liked being there, yet there were moments when it was kind of scary … It could be a site of tragedy and hardship, and also joy and exuberance.”
Lien, who grew up in the area as the child of ChineseVietnamese refugees, explores this duality in her blistering debut novel, . Set in 1996, it follows Ky Tran, a cadet journalist living in Melbourne, who returns home after her teenage brother Denny is murdered in a busy Cabramatta restaurant.
