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The
Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang
In search of a place to call home, thousands
of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to
the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America, but their
history remains largely unknown. Driven to share her family’s story
after her grandmother’s death, Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir is
a tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together.
Beginning in the 1970s, as the Hmong were being massacred for their collaboration
with the United States during the Vietnam War, Yang recounts the harrowing
story of her family’s captivity in Laos, the daring rescue undertaken
by her father and uncles, and their narrow escape into Thailand where
Yang was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp.
When she was six years old, Yang’s family immigrated to America.
She evocatively captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and
a new language, and also gives voice to the dreams, wisdom, and traditions
passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community.