Thuan Le Elston

While writing Rendezvous at the Altar: From Vietnam to Virginia, Thuan Le Elston had no inkling that her debut historical fiction novel would be published during the summer of Afghanistan\’s fall to the Taliban. In 1975 when she was in third grade, Thuan\’s family fled Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, during its capture by North Vietnam. The parallels of her family\’s escape and that of Afghanistan families are heartfelt topics she discusses as she promotes Rendezvous at the Altar.

In a Los Angeles Times article by Shelby Grad, Thuan Le Elston tells the reason for her story, which began in 2009 after the funeral of her maternal grandmother: 

I didn\’t set out to write a refugee novel or an immigrant novel. Not even an Asian American novel. It\’s an American family novel. I wanted to record for my kids stories they should know about their ancestors, so they\’d know where they came from. 

Married with four children, Thuan Le Elston began journaling about the subjects of her book – four grandmothers. Two were hers, the other two, her husband\’s – great grandmothers and ancestors of their children. Thuan quickly realized the journal needed to be more and transformed it into a novel, revising it several times until it became a time travel exploration in Vietnam and the United States covering the lives of: 

Ann Jaqueline Eley,
Nguyen, Thi Kim,
Mary Edna Simons, and
Vu, Thi Ty.

Monochromatic images display their haunting beauty on the cover of the book. 

Through research, imagination, and family lore, Thuan Le Elston summoned the grandmothers from the afterlife to relive and assess their lives. Voices interpreted, these resilient women – mothers, workers, wives, and entrepreneurs – spoke of their individual experiences. Rendezvous at the Altar summarizes each of them:

… Anne\’s Southern upbringing to her \’Mad Men’-like married life; Kim\’s family as they survive French colonialism and the Vietnam War; Mary\’s transformations through the Great Depression and two marriages; and Ty\’s migration from Hanoi businesswoman to Arizona matriarch.

Historical events during their lifetimes added more substance to the narratives. Rodney King\’s 1991 beating by police, the Great Depression in the 1930s, and Ho Chi Minh\’s independence from France in 1945 were some of the spiritual conversations between the grandmothers and their descendants, as well as the fleeing Vietnamese \”boat people\” in 1975 and the election of Barack Obama in 2008.

Thuan Le Elston has given multicultural and intimate depth to Rendezvous at the Altar: From Vietnam to Virginia, certainly a lifetime gift to her children.

About the Author:

Thuan Le Elston was born in South Vietnam, and her family left a week before Saigon fell in 1975. A former Los Angeles Times reporter, she has been a member of the USA Today Editorial Board since 2005. One of her few non-journalism jobs was a speaking role in Olive Stone\’s movie Heaven and Earth.

Thuan\’s social media:
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Thuan, this is a perfect postcard to represent your life and book as a resident of Virginia with roots in Vietnam! Everything about this scene is beautiful. Thank you for sending it for my collection. 🙂

~Anita~

postcard image by Doan Duc Minh