The Book of Salt (2003)

Bình cooks for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in 1930s Paris, while memories of colonial Vietnam and years at sea interrupt the apparent stability of employment. The famous household stays at the edge of a servant's private life. Truong imagines the cook's story rather than presenting a recovered autobiography. Food, unequal fluency and queer desire make this an especially rewarding choice for how much a person can understand without being heard.