The Hungry Season: A Journey of War, Love, and Survival

Ia Moua, a member of Laos’s Hmong minority, never imagined that she’d end up growing rice in the blazing heat of California’s San Joaquin Valley, but in 1998, at the age of 34, that’s exactly what she did. Journalist Hamilton (Deeply Rooted) offers a riveting account of Ia’s life, inextricably bound to the rice that sustained her and that she, in turn, is determined to nurture. Narrating her own work, Hamilton describes Ia’s early years, from her hasty, ill-thought-out marriage to the civil war that upended the country. Along with the other Hmong people, Ia spent years in Thai refugee camps and eventually found a new home in Fresno, CA. Hamilton’s affection for Ia comes through in her narration of the audiobook, as she relates Ia’s determination to grow rice—not just any rice, but mov nplej tshiab, or fresh rice, the rice that signaled the end of the hungry season and the coming together of the Hmong people, both present and past. Though Ia’s life has been marked by suffering, abuse, and deprivation, her enduring entrepreneurial spirit carries her through.