Book excerpt: Lan is a woman of colour. She tries to navigate through her twenties and is faced by the complex intersection of her gender and race. Her Vietnamese heritage has always been and will always be part of her being, as well as her womanhood. Looking back into her family's history she understands that the past contains an immensity of generational legacies and wounds. This is a story about a woman who learns how to proudly claim her existence in a white country. Facing the daily horrors of racism and sexism in order to pave her way into adulthood. She understands the power of redefining the identity society has put on her.