Things We Lost to the Water is Eric Nguyen’s first novel, but you would never know by reading it. It’s a multilayered, beautifully written story of the immigrant experience through the eyes of one family, all living a slightly different reality in their new home of New Orleans. And then Hurricane Katrina happens…

Eric tells Jeniffer about what inspired him to write his novel, why he chose the setting he chose, and how the novel developed into the story of the three individuals and their unique perspectives, while also being a view into the family as a whole and how those bonds survive despite it all.