French novelist yearns for her Vietnamese homeland Connecting: Vietnamese-French writer Linda Le's novel Lame de fond (Undertow) has been selected as one of four finalists for this year's French literature Goncourt Prize. — VNS Photo HA NOI (VNS) — The novel Lame de fond (Undertow) by Vietnamese-French writer Linda Le is among four finalists of this year's French literature Goncourt Prize. Published this year by Christian Bourgois, the 280-page novel follows the story of a family and their relationships. The characters include a Vietnamese man living in France named Van, his wife Lou, their daughter Laure, and Van's mistress Ulma. Le has admitted to expressing her own personality through the four central characters in Lame de fond, and has said the book is a message about her desire to build up a connection between herself and her Vietnamese homeland. Le is one of the few current writers to be accepted in France as both a French and a Francophone writer, having left Viet Nam to live in France with her family when she was 14 years old. Several novels by Le have been critically acclaimed and translated into languages including English, Dutch and Portuguese. In Viet Nam, readers have the chance to enjoy her novels Tinh Ca Ac Quy (Un Si Tendre Vampire, or A Vampire So Tender), Vu Khong (Slander), and Lai Choi Voi Lua (Autres Jeux avec le Feu or Other Games with Fire). The three others finalists of the Prix Goncourt are Patrick Deville for his novel Peste&Cholera, Jerome Ferrari for Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome, and La Verite sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert by Swiss writer Joel Dicker. The prize winner will be announced in Paris on November 7. — VNS