V.T. Bidania Shares Family History in “A Year Without Home”
V.T. Bidania’s new middle-grade novel tells the story of a young girl whose peaceful life is uprooted by war, tossing her family into a heartrending journey.
V.T. Bidania’s “A Year Without Home” may resonate with those who had either witnessed or grew up with tales of loved ones who survived the Vietnam War, particularly those who are Hmong Americans like the author herself.
In this middle-grade novel in verse, our narrator is an 11-year-old Hmong girl named Gao Sheng. Gao Sheng resides in a peaceful mountain town called Pa Kao until she, along with her family and relatives, are forced to flee after the war ends, with the new government launching a hunt for the Hmong people.
A Personal Window into Hmong History
In the author’s notes of “A Year Without Home,” Bidania shares, “I wrote this book as a tribute to my sister Gao Sheng for her resilience and spirit during this difficult time. While mourning the loss of home and living in unfavorable conditions of refugee camps, she faced challenges as the oldest daughter and as a girl in a traditionally patriarchal culture.”
The story comes from a compilation of family narratives, the author’s own memories, interviews, historical research, and even a trip to Laos. Most importantly, Pa Kao was a real place where the author’s family had resided before the end of the Vietnam War.
Gao Sheng, our young narrator, describes her home: “Our house sits on top of a hill. / We have a white tin roof / that reflects the sunlight. / Neighbors say it glows so bright, / it can surely be seen from space.”
Bidania paints Pa Kao with picturesque details that can move readers’ hearts, reflecting her childhood years of hearing countless stories of what life was like before the displacement. When describing where the house was located, she later shares in the book, “The hill was surrounded by peach trees that sprouted pink and white peach blossoms one season and bore sweet fruits the next. It was here that my parents and uncles and aunties raised their children and hosted lively gatherings with relatives and neighbors … Every time I heard about this house, I imagined a magical place abundant with sunshine, shrieks of laughter and giggles, and so much love, and I knew I had to begin the story there.”
In the novel, the young Gao Sheng shares that in Laos, the Lao people live in the lowlands whereas the Hmong people live in the highlands, with other ethnic groups in the foothills and other areas.
The “Secret War” and the Hmong Diaspora
The Hmong people are an ethnic group, among many others, living mainly in China with a current population of over 2 million. During the 18th and 19th centuries, waves of Hmong people migrated into various parts of Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma). In the early 1960s, the United States CIA recruited the Hmong to become soldiers and fight alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War.
Gao Sheng lyrically narrates:
When the Americans
joined the war,
they said,
The Hmong people
live in the mountains.
They know the jungle terrain.
They will make good fighters.
So they recruited
Hmong soldiers
to fight with them.
At the start, our young narrator’s day-to-day life is like most children’s. She enjoys attending school, playing with her siblings and friends, spending time with the family pets, and doing house chores. Moreover, she tries to not think about boys.
But, one day, Gao Sheng’s carefree life comes to a startling halt. She shares, “Teacher Xiong returns alone… / Students, pack up your things. / We must leave at once. / The school will close today.” Like other children, Gao Sheng is left confused, lost, and afraid when her daily routine is disrupted. While some classmates express hope for the school to open up again, she and her brother Yia seek answers.
Once the Vietnam War concluded, the United States withdrew their troops from Southeast Asia. Both the communist governments of Laos and Vietnam then focused on attacking Hmong villages and hunting down Hmong people.
Navigating Loss and Patriarchal Expectations
In “A Year Without Home,” Gao Sheng experiences displacement, the loss of both home and loved ones, and the struggle to find strength in a patriarchal culture that demands so much from her.
During the post-Vietnam War events, Gao Sheng witnesses the divide between families and friends as they decide whether to stay or escape from being sent to re-education camps and potential death — punishments for those who initially opposed the communist party. As familiar faces begin to vanish, Gao Sheng feels her life spinning more out of control. With the new communist government taking over Laos, our young narrator cannot bear to leave the home that she has shared with her parents, siblings, and relatives.
When Gao Sheng asks her dad what is a refugee, he replies, “Someone who has lost their home, / who must leave their country / because it isn’t safe for them to stay.”
Suddenly, Gao Sheng is forced to venture out of Pa Kao with her family and relatives. While moving from place to place, their turbulent journey becomes powerfully heartwarming as everyone tries to stay together and be optimistic about the unknown future. The close bonds of friends and family are tested again and again. Along the way, Gao Sheng supports the women in her family and relatives as she navigates cross-cultural boundaries, misogyny, and redefines the meaning of “home” itself.
While battling grief, homesickness, and fear, Gao Sheng babysits and feeds her many siblings and cousins, is told that she could not play, endures the verbal criticisms of others telling her what a good daughter cannot do, and resists people defining her “value” as a girl.
Gao Sheng says, “Daughters are called ntxhais de zaub, / ‘the one who picks vegetables.’ / …a daughter can never be as strong / or as helpful as a son.”
In a world that is much larger than she has ever imagined, Gao Sheng wants to find her place as an 11-year-old Hmong girl. She remarks, “I don’t want to hear about / boys being strong anymore. / Can’t anyone be strong? / What about girls?”
The Harsh Reality of the Refugee Experience
Before long, Gao Sheng would encounter the poor conditions and other problems in refugee camps. Besides armed soldiers, there are few doctors and nurses treating the sick, inadequate shelters, food rations, and more. Families are also further divided on remaining in the refugee camps or applying for a sponsor to help them rebuild their lives in the new country of their choice.
When another child asks why Gao Sheng’s family refuses to leave the refugee camp, she answers, “My parents say they want to wait / and see if we can go back to Laos.”
Such a thought was not uncommon among the Hmong people. Most of those who lived among Thailand’s refugee camps would go on to resettle in countries, such as the United States, Canada, France, and others. Unfortunately, once the refugee camps and the last temporary shelter closed in the early 2000s, Thailand sent thousands of Hmong refugees back to where they had initially fled from.
Throughout the novel, Gao Sheng misses Pa Kao whenever she faces heartaches and goodbyes. In her darkest hours, she says, “Yia asked me once / what if we never find / another place like home?”
“A Year Without Home” unveils the brutal effects of war on children and provides an opportunity to build empathy, curiosity, and awareness in both children and adults. In the author’s notes, Bidania shares that she hopes the novel can provide a glimpse of what life was like for Hmong families in the post-Vietnam War era. Not only that, the story is dedicated to all refugees who, like Gao Sheng, had to leave their homes.
About 50 years have passed since the end of the Vietnam War. Regardless, Bidania states, “At this moment, wars are still happening in every corner of the globe … This is why it’s crucial for there to be more books, especially books for young readers, that tell these stories … Hopefully, these young people can grow up to become adults who will not follow the paths of their predecessors and repeat history.”
You can follow V.T. Bidania on Facebook and Instagram at @vtbidania. “A Year Without Home” can be purchased online and at your local bookstore. Links on this page lead to our Bookshop.org storefront, where every purchase supports both your reading journey and ours. Thank you!
