The Soul Caller

About the Book

Two young men of the Hmong tribe in Laos seek refuge in St. Paul, Minnesota, near the end of the Vietnam War. Binding them together are memories of their mountain home and their passion for Zoua Lee, a beauty who stayed behind as soldiers entered her village to destroyed it. In his strange new culture, Pao Moua still longs to fall into the coma that signals he will become a shaman. He passes time painting village scenes --and his beloved Zoua partially nude for a city mural-- while his angry father looks for ways to escape horrible memories of war and his mother grieves silently for her three lost sons. In contrast, Lue Vang rejects both America and his village in Laos. He joins a gang and gets into a situation where he must kill or be killed by his gang brothers. Running for his life, he desperately draws Pao into his dilemma and places both their lives in danger. When Zoua Lee speaks to him through Pao’s painting, magic happens, and both men’s lives are changed forever.

About the Author

Ana Peters has earned literary awards in the U.S. for her essays about the war in Bosnia. She has created humanitarian projects to aid war refugees in Bosnia and Hmong refugees in Thailand, and worked to expose the plight of the jungle Hmong in Laos. She has taught at universities in the U.S. and abroad. She lives in South Korea.