An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family's past and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan's family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan's mother was their savvy, charismatic North Star, setting...

Ever since Maria Latif's parents died, she has been shuffled from one relative to the next, each one seeming to count down the days till they could pass her on. And that's how she's ended up in America, where old friends of her parents say they can "give her a better life." But the Clayborne house and even the Claybournes themselves have a few surprises for Maria. The garden in the back of the estate's grounds, for example. No one will talk about...