“Empress Dowager Tu Du" by the writer Tran Thuy Mai winning the Good Book Award

The novel “Empress Dowager Tu Du" highly appreciated by critics and readers

“Empress Dowager Tu Du", a long novel composing of 69 chapters, can be considered a rare historical novel of “harem battle" of contemporary literature written about the harem of the Nguyen dynasty. This is the novel to which the female writer Tran Thuy Mai devoted herself. Written in pure Vietnamese style, together with vivid and cinematic plot, the novel fascinates readers from the beginning to the end.

The author chose the harem as the background to tell a long story about the life of Ms. Pham Thi Hang, one of the well-known queens in the history of Vietnam. She is the Chief Wife of Emperor Thieu Tri, who is famous for her virtue after becoming the Empress Dowager. This novel stretches over a period of 30 years in the reigns of 3 Emperors of the Nguyen dynasty, including those of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Mang and Thieu Tri.

This work of art is highly appreciated by critics as a solemn court music full of emotional and artistic values. Throughout 69 chapters, readers feel as if they were in cultural space of Hue and royal space of the Nguyen dynasty.

The writer Tran Thuy Mai, one of the prominent female literary authors of Hue and Vietnam, has made major contributions to the collection of short stories of contemporary Vietnam literature. She has been a professional writer for over 35 years with hundreds of works loved by many generations of readers.

The Good Book Awards, co-organized by the Institute for Research on Education Development (IRED), the Good Books Promotion project and the OpenEdu Initiative, are independent awards voted by readers and scholars.

Story & photo: Trang Hien