The Family Recipe

A Novel

By: Carolyn Huynh

Narrated by: Vyvy Nguyen, David Lee Huynh

In this “gem of a book that sparkles with longing and hope and healing” (J.C. Cervantes, New York Times bestselling author), estranged siblings find themselves competing to inherit their father’s Vietnamese sandwich franchise and unravel family mysteries.

Duc Tran, the eccentric founder of the Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, has decided to retire.With the help of the shady family lawyer, Duc informs his five estranged adult children that to receive their inheritance, his four daughters must revitalize run-down shops in old-school Little Saigon locations across America: Houston, San Jose, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—within a year. But if the first-born (and only) son, Jude, gets married first, everything will go to him.

Each daughter is stuck in a new city, battling gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves, and messy love lives, while struggling to modernize their father’s American dream. Jude wonders if he wants to marry for love or for money—or neither. As Duc’s children scramble to win their inheritance, they begin to learn the real intention behind the inheritance scheme—and the secret their long-lost mother kept tucked away in the old fishing tackle box, all along.

Destined “to become an instant favorite” (Liza Palmer, author of Family Reservations),The Family Recipeis about rediscovering one’s roots, different types of fatherly love, legacy, and finding a place in a divided country where the only commonality among your neighbors is the universal love of sandwiches.

Finding yourself

I absolutely loved this. It felt familiar, without making me fall apart. The writing was awesome.

Loved the story

Well written. In depth and the characters are relatable. Would have liked more voices for the book as there are a lot of characters

Could have been something

The editor failed this writer and the writer failed the readers. So many parts of this book had a glimmer of something great, but between the lack of character development, reliance on cliches and Tik Tok psychology this read like a bunch of girls drunk at a bar telling stories that have no substance or cohesion. The best parts of this were the flash backs to the story of resilience of the Duc, Evelyn and “the shady lawyer” who actually seems like the most likeable character in this entire mess of a book.