The Manicurist's Daughter

Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her familys past, and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susans family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, they became experts at the refugee hustle. Susans mother was their savvy, beautiful, charismatic north star. She pulled them out of poverty and orchestrated every success. Until Susan was eleven. That year, her mother died as a result of negligence during a routine plastic surgery seeking beauty treatments she didnt need. After her mums death, Susan was expected to go back to school as if nothing happened. Within her family, there was no shared grief or emotional outpouring. For the next 20 years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone - why did the most perfect person in her life feel the need to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mothers life in Vietnam? How could she manage the same cultural pressures her mother faced, and succumbed to, in her own life, within her own body? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on to continue operating for years after her mothers death? The Manicurists Daughter is much more than a memoir about grief, trauma, and body image. It is a story of fierce determination, strength in shared culture, and finding your place in the world. Susan Lieu is the daughter of manicurists. She is the daughter of survivors and the inheritor of all they faced to reach a better life. She finds her strength in her familys story, and she will continue to build on that foundation for future generations.