Twin Tides by Hien Nguyen - OPTIONAL

Twin Tides by Hien Nguyen, 352 pages. Random House, 2025. $20

Language: R (100+ swears, 5 ‘f’); Mature Content: G ; Violence: PG-13 (bullying, drownings)

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

APPEALS TO: SOME

When their mother’s body is found, 14 years after she disappeared, 18yo Aria and Caliste find out, from first sight, that they are identical twins. Separated when their mother disappeared, Aria was raised poor by her aunt, while Caliste was raised rich by her father, who grew a grocery empire. While the girls get to know each other, they are struggling to deal with their mother’s death - and to connect it to the other mysterious deaths that have been happening in the area. The Hane family, which seems to own the small town of Les Eaux, seem to be intimately involved in everything to do with the girls’ family - even this, somehow.

Nguyen spends too much time setting up the girls’ lives - getting to their meeting more than 100 pages in. Once the book hits the town of Les Eaux, it picks up and starts really running. That first 100 pages, though , is why I can only rate it optional. The girls’ mother has her own story to tell as a Vietnamese Ma Da - a vengeful water spirit created when someone is drowned.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS