The Frangipani Hotel

Bard Fiction Prize winner Kupersmith’s (Build Your House Around My Body) debut short story collection, first published in 2014, is now available in audio. Vietnamese folklore and supernatural trauma permeate the stories in this collection, starting with “Boat Trip,” which follows a grandmother as she tells her granddaughter of her journey to the United States, beginning familiarly but quickly morphing into a ghost story. Many of Kupersmith’s stories have a subtly disturbing element of the supernatural, whether it’s shape-shifters becoming snakes, spirits seeking vengeance, or sandwiches that taste too good for this world. The real power of these stories, however, is in their exploration of more mundane themes. Kupersmith explores the difficulty of fitting into a new place, from Vietnamese families trying to assimilate into American society to people who go down the wrong street and end up in a new reality. An ensemble of six Vietnamese American narrators give each story and its narrator a unique voice, honoring the many realities and experiences of this disparate group.