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The Seekers of Deer Creek

an enchanting mystery wrapped within a family drama

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Pub Date 4 Aug 2026 | Archive Date 4 Aug 2026

Quercus Books | Quercus


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Description

TWO SISTERS. ONE PAINTING. A LONG-LOST SECRET.

From the bestselling author of Banyan Moon comes a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by a
forgotten Vietnamese artist that holds the truth of their family's fractured past.

'Beautiful . . . a kind of ghost story wound through with artistic passion, a legacy of violence, and the indelible intimacy of sisterhood' Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich

'The most achingly beautiful novel I've read in a long time' Amy Jo Burns, author of Wait For Me

Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common.

Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. Working as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, she carefully preserves pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history.

Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. An accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, she is charming and intriguing to everyone she meets. She's also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.

Months after the two fall out in the wake of their father's death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter found in their father's belongings. The sketch is an exact copy of Blue Mirror, a striking painting by a Surrealist Vietnamese painter named K.P. Lý. In the letter, Lý writes about a mysterious lost work of art that Calla is convinced is meant for her and Vivi to find together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether she's willing to face or shut the door to the past.

From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a disintegrating ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Việt Nam, The Seekers of Deer Creek is a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the past-how it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried.

TWO SISTERS. ONE PAINTING. A LONG-LOST SECRET.

From the bestselling author of Banyan Moon comes a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by a
forgotten...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781529440355
PRICE £22.00 (GBP)
PAGES 320

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Average rating from 8 members


Featured Reviews

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Wow! What a stunningly beautiful and evocative story. Reading this book felt like wandering through a series of colourful and emotive paintings each slightly more detailed than the last.

The poetry of the writing was comparable to the bold brushstrokes of a masterpiece, and each character’s personality was painted across it in a series of portraits all slightly varying in style.

The locations were all so lushly vibrant that you could almost smell the air and taste the atmosphere. It felt as though I was living and breathing alongside Viví and Calla sharing in their curiosity, their excitement, their anger, their frustration and finally their contentment although they each found that in vastly different ways.

This is a story that will stay with me for a long time.

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Thao Thai returns following the superb Banyan Moon with a novel that tells the story of two sisters and their quest to unravel the historical mystery behind their families fractured past. The Seekers of Deer Creek is an expansive read - moving between the wilderness of Wisconsin, to France and into rural, ancestral home in Vietnam. Vivi and Calli are the beating heart of this big, beautiful novel - at odds with each other times, different in personality, but both wanting to understand the past which has defined their present and could change their future.

As with her debut, Thao Thai is really great at crafting relationships that sing on the page, and at drawing the reader into the heart of her subject matter and pulling the reader propulsively onwards. Her writing is sharp, with some extremely beautiful imagery - the ancestral home, decaying, teetering on the edge of a ravine becomes both a physical place and a great mental projection of the sisters psyche.

I was totally invested with The Seekers of Deer Creek, reading it over two sittings, transported to her world, and loving every second.

Thank you to Thao Thai, Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

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