The Book of Salt

The novel opens at the main train station in Paris, with Binh accompanying his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, on their way to their ocean voyage to America. Photographers are flashing lights and snapping photos, much to Stein and Toklas’s delight. They are now the centers of attention, something Stein in particular craves. Binh has gotten a letter from his oldest brother, Anh Minh. Binh had written him five years earlier when he began his tenure at the women’s household as their cook. Binh hasn’t been home to Vietnam in 11 years, while the women are returning to the US after some 30 years.

Binh arrived in Paris in 1926, a few years before the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing hard times. Binh notes that the Great Depression chased many Americans from their homeland to Paris, where they could drink (Prohibition in the US curtailed that activity in America) and gather in cafes or homes such as Stein’s to discuss art, literature, and philosophy.

However, the Great Depression followed the Americans to France, as evidenced by the booming business at local pawnshops. Many are now heading back to the US.