Others Were Emeralds - by Lang Leav (Paperback)

About the Book

"The daughter of Cambodian refugees, Ai grew up in the small Australian town of Whitlam populated by Asian immigrants who once fled war-torn countries to rebuild their shattered lives. It is now the late 90's and despite their parent's harrowing past, Ai and her tightknit group of school friends: charismatic Brigitte, sweet, endearing Bowie, shy, inscrutable Tin, and politically minded Sying, lead seemingly ordinary lives, far removed from the unimaginable horrors suffered by their parents. But that carefree innocence is shattered in their last year of school when Ai and her friends encounter a pair of racist men whose cruel acts of intimidation spiral into senseless violence. Grappling with the magnitude of her grief at such a young age, Ai leaves Whitlam for college before her trauma has a chance to fully resolve. In her second year of college Ai suffers a mental health crisis, driving her back home to Whitlam, a place she swore never to return. There, she reconnects with those she left behind and together they are compelled to look back on the tragedy that shaped their adolescence and examine the role they may have unwittingly played"--

Book Synopsis

"Others Were Emeralds kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. With lyrical and moving prose, Lang tells a stunning tale of love, loss, and the true power of friendship. A deep, beautiful novel." -- Etaf Rum, New York Times bestselling author of A Woman is No Man

Internationally acclaimed poet Lang Leav's debut adult novel combines her poetical lyricism and emotional acumen to create an enthralling coming of age narrative set against the backdrop of anti-Asian sentiment sweeping Australia in the late 90's. A stirring portrayal of guilt, loss, and memory, Others Were Emeralds explores the inherent danger of allowing our misconceptions to shape our reality.

What comes first, the photograph or the memory?

The daughter of Cambodian refugees, Ai grew up in the small Australian town of Whitlam populated by Asian immigrants who once fled war-torn countries to rebuild their shattered lives. It is now the late '90s and despite their parents' harrowing past, Ai and her tightknit group of school friends: charismatic Brigitte, sweet, endearing Bowie, shy, inscrutable Tin, and politically minded Sying, lead seemingly ordinary lives, far removed from the unimaginable horrors suffered by their parents.

But that carefree innocence is shattered in their last year of school when Ai and her friends encounter a pair of racist men whose cruel acts of intimidation spiral into senseless violence. Grappling with the magnitude of her grief at such a young age, Ai leaves Whitlam for college before her trauma has a chance to fully resolve.

In her second year of college Ai suffers a mental health crisis, driving her back home to Whitlam, a place she swore never to return. There, she reconnects with those she left behind and together they are compelled to look back on the tragedy that shaped their adolescence and examine the role they may have unwittingly played.

Review Quotes

"I want to read everything Lang writes! Others Were Emeralds kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. With lyrical and moving prose, Lang tells a stunning tale of love, loss, and the true power of friendship. A deep, beautiful novel."

- Etaf Rum, New York Times bestselling author of A Woman is No Man

"Few writers can distill the yearnings of the human heart quite like novelist and poet sensation Lang Leav. Whether she's conjuring the intensity of first love or summoning the dull ache of heartbreak, Leav's work hums with humanity." - futurewomen.com

"A moving novel about healing, friendship, and combating the idea that history is bound to repeat itself, Others Were Emeralds will leave readers touched." - Shondaland

"Others Were Emeralds is rich with lush descriptions and an unmistakable sense of place . . . there's a beautiful specificity in Leav's evocation of life as a second-generation Cambodian-Australian." - Books + Publishing

"Self-discovery, creativity, intense and volatile relationships, feeling like the world is opening up before you at one moment and crashing down around you the next - all of these teenage experiences are beautifully depicted in Others Were Emeralds. But at the same time being Asian in '90s Australia means that for Ai and her friends these rites of passage are tangled up with experiences of racism, isolation, and trauma. I thought the way that Leav wove all of this together whilst striking a delicate balance between darkness and light was impressive and moving." - Readings

"A book you'll want to read again and again." - Amerie's Book Club

"A delicate, moving coming-of-age tale. . . . and a mature, poetic reflection on innocence and traumatic experience." - The Sunday Morning Herald

"A heartrending novel ... Leav skillfully captures the details of senior-year high school life, but is even better in depicting Ai's parents' stories of surviving war and persecution and Ai's teenage experiences with microaggressions and outward racism. It's a resonant portrayal." - Publishers Weekly

"Leav's coming-of-age debut is poetic and lyrical, her prose rich in beautiful imagery. She tenderly explores grief, trauma, and love as Ai reflects on her past and makes sense of it in order to move forward." - Booklist

Others Were Emeralds is perceptive in its storytelling, illuminating the impacts of war, racism, and interpersonal conflict. I was continuously struck by Lang Leav's resonant portrayal of heartache in friendships and the societal context of Ai's coming-of-age experiences, as well as the complexity with which she explored the impacts of trauma, and how it exists across and within generations. The result is the rare kind of book that is worth multiple rereads." - anikopress.com

"Leav is such a poetic, beautiful writer, her prose is both vivid and easy to consume; I devoured the novel. . . . If you enjoy coming-of-age novels that carry some more serious, heavier topics, Others Were Emerald is the ideal pick." - The Modern Muse Magazine