In a heartfelt conversation in this episode, author Quế Mai shared her inspiring journey as a writer and the powerful themes explored in her novel, DUST CHILD. The discussion illuminated the significance of reclaiming narratives that have long been silenced, particularly the stories of Vietnamese women during and after the Vietnam War.

Quế Mai’s passion for storytelling was ignited in her childhood in Vietnam, where her family’s poverty during the American trade embargo. Despite being discouraged from pursuing a writing career due to danger and financial instability, and after a successful career in business, she returned to her writing aspirations, feeling a strong calling to tell the stories of Vietnam from the Vietnamese perspective, countering the often one-dimensional narratives presented in Western literature.

In her quest to document the experiences of Vietnamese affected by the war, Quế Mai drew from interviews with Vietnamese and Americans and their stories of regret, loss, and hope. In DUST CHILD she aimed to capture the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the deep scars left by war, especially from the viewpoint of women who were too often overlooked in historical accounts.

The novel’s central characters, two sisters, embody the diverse experiences of women during the war. Quế Mai noted how their contrasting personalities reflect the multifaceted nature of resilience and survival. One sister is dreamy and romantic, while the other is pragmatic and fiercely independent. Through their lives, the author illustrates how the war affected women differently, yet profoundly, showcasing their strength and vulnerability.

Quế Mai’s writing style blends poetic elements with prose, aiming to evoke the Vietnamese spirit in her storytelling. She shared that her upbringing in a culture steeped in poetry greatly influenced her writing approach. The result is a narrative that resonates emotionally, inviting readers to engage deeply with the characters and their journeys.

As a Vietnamese woman writing in English, Quế Mai faced unique challenges, including overcoming language barriers and cultural differences. However, her dedication to conveying authenticity drove her to refine her craft, ensuring that her characters' voices were genuine reflections of their experiences. She emphasized the importance of understanding the cultural context when representing characters from different backgrounds, as seen in her portrayal of Dan, an American veteran.

Quế Mai’s DUST CHILD is more than just a novel; it is a heartfelt tribute to the women of Vietnam and an exploration of the lasting impact of war on families and communities. Through her journey as a writer, she emphasizes the importance of reclaiming narratives and recognizing the humanity in every story. As we reflect on her insights, we are reminded of the power of storytelling in bridging cultures and healing wounds.

Dr. Bryan Denny joins us to further our understanding of emotional regulation research, particularly research that combines traditional diagnostic approaches with neurobiology. Bryan is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University and Director of the Translational Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab. Bryan 's research is a fascinating complement to our book this month: Ethan Kross's SHIFT: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS SO THEY DON’T MANAGE YOU.

Bryan's research seeks to understand the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that underlie successful and unsuccessful emotion regulation across a spectrum of healthy and clinical populations. He is interested in utilizing the results of basic investigations into these processes in order to design and examine novel interventions focused on improving real-world emotion regulation outcomes in a variety of contexts.

Bryan tells us he has always been interested in the brain and how it works, but he didn’t know a person could study that in college. He took Intro to Psych 101 from Brian Knutson, an affective neuroscientist, and switched his major. From his collegiate studies through his PhD, he became really intrigued in the application of fMRIs in understanding the brains processes in emotion regulation via brain imagining studies.

Bryan explains several emotion regulation techniques and describes situation, strategy, person contingencies and how research may help understand what strategy is helpful for who in what situation. This knowledge may help individuals, but also will help clinicians in their practice, as well.

Bryan says some people have the notion that emotions are things we can turn on or off, but a lot of research is focusing on acceptance. Bryan’s work is currently looking at psychological distancing which may be a key component of mindfulness. A psychological distancing mindset helps individuals identify their stressors in real time to help not become swept-up in emotions. You can do this for yourself, but also for others to influence their emotional state.

Bryan then tells us about the longitudinal emotion regulation research conducted by his lab, the Translational Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (T-SCAN). He is interested in long-term interventions and has recently been focusing on populations such as caregivers of persons with dementia and also of bereaved persons.

To know what the appropriate tool is for a situation is for a person calls for more sophisticated models about how emotion and emotion regulation work. Then, delivering through clinicians and through targeted drugs, but also through education and phone nudges and other modalities could help people cope more adaptively.

DUST CHILD, by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, catapults us into the interconnecting lives of those caught in the brutality of the Vietnam War. We meet Dan, an American who is returning with his wife to the country where he was a young GI fifty years earlier. We are transported back in time and meet two Vietnamese sisters during the Vietnam War. We meet Fong, an Amerasian man born from a Vietnamese woman and a Black GI and the challenges he faces as an abandoned baby.

Nguyen Phan Que Mai based this novel on the stories she heard as she was writing her dissertation about the impact of the Vietnam War.

The novel is an international best-seller AND the One Book, One Lincoln selection for 2026.