Houston – Jamie Jo Hoang’s debut novel, My Father, the Panda Killer, introduced readers to a Vietnamese American family still living with the echoes of a war that ended decades ago. Now, the Houston-based author is expanding that world with her new companion novel, My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser.
The story moves between two timelines: Vietnam in 1975 and a California home in 2008. The book explores how fear, displacement, and resilience ripple through generations. As the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War is commemorated this year, Hoang is using fiction to shine a light on trauma and identity that were often left unspoken in families like hers.
Phuong Ha, associate director of education and outreach at Asia Society Texas, moderated Hoang’s book event at Blue Willow Bookshop in September. She and Jamie met when her first book came out and says they “instantly clicked.” Ha says she sees the two books as a family portrait. Each story offers a different point of view shaped by setting, memory, and survival. While My Father, the Panda Killer explores a father’s experience through his daughter, Jane’s eyes, the new book shifts to a teenage son, Paul, searching for answers about his mother’s past.
Part of Hoang’s journey as a writer came from realizing how little of her family’s story she ever saw reflected in school. She remembers learning about the Vietnam War only through the eyes of American soldiers, rarely civilians, and never from Vietnamese families who lived through its aftermath. She believes that pairing lived experiences with history can deepen empathy and understanding for students and adults alike.
Fifty years after the war, Hoang says the milestone holds a different meaning for everyone. Some people are finally ready to reflect and heal; others are still grieving what was lost. For her, writing has been a way to process a complicated relationship with her mother and understand the hardships she faced as a child experiences her own son may never fully comprehend without context.
In My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser, Hoang shows how trauma can be inherited silently, but also how storytelling can break cycles. She hopes readers — especially young people remember that their parents once had lives, fears, and dreams before becoming caretakers.
Hoang had the opportunity to “unlearn” things for allowing her to process what older generations could not. Survival left little room for reflection, she says, and while she makes different choices today, she doesn’t judge the ones her parents made.
The companion novels offer voices from both sides of the family: Paul and his mother in one book, and Jane and her father in the other. Together, the stories create a layered portrait of what it means to grow up in the same household with vastly different experiences.
Ha encourages conversations sparked by books, storytelling, and cultural events as a way to bridge generational and community gaps. She believes understanding grows when people show up, listen, and learn from one another.
Jamie moved to Houston while working on her first book and says the city surprised her with its openness and authenticity. The community’s family-oriented spirit and diversity made it easy to feel at home, especially within local literary circles.
Independent bookstores like Blue Willow have played a vital role in sharing her work. Hoang says authors rely on passionate booksellers to help reach new readers and spark conversations around stories that may not feel instantly familiar to everyone.
One childhood memory continues to guide her storytelling: hearing her father describe bombs falling during the war using the Vietnamese phrase “nổ đệp luôn” meaning “they burst beautifully” a sound both terrifying and strangely poetic. That contrast, she says, reflects the resilience of people who find beauty even in destruction.
The topics may be heavy, but at their core, her stories are about survival, empathy, and connection.
Both of Jamie Jo Hoang’s novels My Father, the Panda Killer and My Mother, the Mermaid Chaser are available online on her website and at Blue Willow Bookshop. With Houston home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities in the country, her work resonates deeply with the stories many families here carry. You can connect with Jamie here or follow her on social media.