“When the Frangipanis are in Bloom” is Juliette Mai Triozon’s second book about Vietnam and her family, after “Waltzing with the Dragons” a Memoir telling the story of her mother and herself from 1922-1967 in Vietnam.

Nam, her beloved ‘nanny’, more like her second mother was an orphan at five and went to live with her uncle, one of the last Mandarins in North Vietnam. She and her cousin Ly were inseparable. Together they escaped North Vietnam during the Japanese invasion during Worl War II.  Ly and her were separated as Ly was caught by the Japanese.  Nam was able to flee and was saved by Hung, one ardent follower of Ho Chi Minh. At barely 18, Nam fell in love with Hung but unfortunately, her love story was cut short as later her cousin re-appeared.  Torn between her love for Hung and a promise she has made to her cousin, she decided to continue her journey South to Saigon with Ly.

In 1952, Ly’s daughter from out of wedlock was born, Mai-Tâm, and Nam dedicated all her life to that child.  But after 15 years of unconditional love, Mai-Tâm was sent away to France and Nam heart broken seemed to have lost her purpose.  Saying shortly after a second ‘good bye’ to her cousin Ly in 1968, Nam went to live with her cousin’s family.

Wendy, an American officer and a good family friend, falls in love with Nam and offers to marry her before he returns to the United States.

“When the Frangipanis are in Bloom” is the promise Nam and Mai-Tâm gave to one another: to reunite again after the war is over.

Will Nam leave with Wendy for a new life in the United States or will she stay and wait patiently for Mai-Tâm’s return?

This historical fiction although based on true characters is an homage to Nam 

(the author’s nanny), as well as to all the women in her Vietnamese family.

While the story is positioned within a real context, historical and familial, her love affairs and a few other characters were imagined.

Nam’s story will take the reader on a journey full of tribulations and adventures taking place from the second World War until the very end of the Vietnam War in 1975.