The Lady in the Red Ao Dai — Robert O. Greer

An old man dies, leaving behind a self-absorbed son who has enjoyed a privileged and sheltered life and a daughter recently recovered from a life lived a little too hard. It is at the funeral, carefully orchestrated by the old man who had grown withdrawn in his later years, that the siblings begin to realise there were layers to their father that they had been unaware of. In sorting out the estate finances it emerges that a large sum of money disappeared in recent years. The only clues are a mysterious painting of a lady in a red ao dai, the traditional female garment of Vietnam and the name and address of someone in a town near Danang. Son Josh leaves behind a glamourous and ambitious fiancée who is ruthlessly planning a major wedding and a life of comfort and elegance as he seeks to head off any possible family scandal. It becomes clear to the siblings as they move around Vietnam that they are closely watched by shadowy interested parties, their movements manipulated as they are sent on a journey of discovery that both appals and fascinates them. A path down alleys in Hoi An and Hanoi leads to an unlikely place near Khe Sanh where the siblings must make choices that will change their lives forever as they reconnect with their father.