
The Manicurist's Daughter
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Susan Lieu
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By:
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Susan Lieu
About this listen
Long-listed, NPR Best Book of the Year, 2024
"Susan Lieu's narration of her memoir, The Manicurist's Daughter, adds to the already raw emotion that flows throughout her journey to know her mother."—The Berkshire Eagle
This program is read by the author.
An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery.
Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family’s past and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan’s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan’s mother was their savvy, charismatic North Star, setting up two successful nail salons and orchestrating every success—until Susan was eleven. That year, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. After the funeral, no one was ever allowed to talk about her or what had happened.
For the next twenty years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone—why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mother’s life in Vietnam? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on operating after her mother’s death? Sifting through depositions, tracking down the surgeon’s family, and enlisting the help of spirit channelers, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of beauty.
The Manicurist’s Daughter is much more than a memoir about grief, trauma, and body image. It is a story of fierce determination, strength in shared culture, and finding your place in the world.
A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books.
©2024 Susan Lieu (P)2024 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A stunning, raw, brave memoir that wouldn’t let me go.”―V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of Reckoning and The Vagina Monologues
"With tenacity, wit, and fierce love, Susan Lieu reconstructs the mother she lost–from memory, through detective work, by spirit conjuring…defying all obstacles and naysayers. A high octane roller coaster to healing."―Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do, an American Book Award winner, a National Book Critics Circle finalist, and an Eisner Award finalist
"The quintessential story of an immigrant's kid―filled to the brim with heartache and hope."―Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner
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Story
There are things Chelsea Devantez probably shouldn’t be telling you. Many of them are in this book: some are embarrassing (like when she tried to break her three year spell of celibacy using a guide of seduction tips). Some are confessional (getting sentenced to the “hell hill” at Mormon church camp). Some are TMI (a series of outrageous doctor visits that ended with one doctor misdiagnosing her as “pregnant.” Woopsies!).
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A large missing piece
- By F. Pryne on 06-18-24
By: Chelsea Devantez
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My Side of the River
- A Memoir
- By: Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family. When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education.
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A well known story
- By Enedina Hernandez on 03-25-25
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While You Were Out
- An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
- By: Meg Kissinger
- Narrated by: Meg Kissinger
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.
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Thoughtful and mindful
- By James Thomas McIntyre on 09-11-23
By: Meg Kissinger
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Under the Surface
- By: Diana Urban
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler, Max Meyers
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart. Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further. But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.
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Brilliant story
- By @joseph.hallett.author on 08-21-24
By: Diana Urban
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A Well-Trained Wife
- My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
- By: Tia Levings
- Narrated by: Tia Levings
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia Levings learned that being a good Christian meant following a list of additional life principles—a series of secret, special rules to obey. Being a godly and submissive wife in Christian Patriarchy included strict discipline, isolation, and an alternative lifestyle that appeared wholesome to outsiders. Women were to be silent, “keepers of the home.” A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable memoir about a woman's race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.
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A review from a chronic non-reviewer
- By T. L. P. on 08-11-24
By: Tia Levings
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The Wives
- A Memoir
- By: Simone Gorrindo
- Narrated by: Simone Gorrindo
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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This profoundly intimate memoir about marriage, friendship, and the power of human connection tells the story of one woman’s experience of joining a community of army wives after leaving her New York City job. When her new husband joins an elite Army unit, Simone Gorrindo is uprooted from New York City and dropped into Columbus, Georgia. With her husband frequently deployed, Simone is left to find her place in this new world, alone—until she meets the wives.
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Really well done
- By Anonymous User on 04-25-24
By: Simone Gorrindo
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Grief Is for People
- By: Sloane Crosley
- Narrated by: Sloane Crosley
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Grief Is for People is a deeply moving and surprisingly suspenseful portrait of friendship, and a book about loss packed with verve for life. Sloane Crosley is one of our most renowned observers of contemporary behavior, and now the pathos that has been ever present in her trademark wit is on full display. After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend to suicide, Crosley looks for answers in friends, philosophy, and art, hoping for a framework more useful than the unavoidable stages of grief.
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Beautiful
- By MS on 03-03-24
By: Sloane Crosley
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Slow Noodles
- A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes
- By: Chantha Nguon
- Narrated by: Kim Green, Clara Kim
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A haunting and beautiful memoir from a Cambodian refugee who lost her country and her family during Pol Pot's genocide in the 1970s but who finds hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother's kitchen.
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Hauntingly beautiful, epic journey of resilience and human kindness
- By nameatrandom on 04-30-24
By: Chantha Nguon
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When Women Ran Fifth Avenue
- Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
- By: Julie Satow
- Narrated by: Karen Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.
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Read like a text book for fashion students.
- By JACKI on 06-24-24
By: Julie Satow
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Loud
- Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
- By: Drew Afualo
- Narrated by: Drew Afualo
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Drew Afualo is best known as the internet’s “Crusader for Women” and is at the head of a new generation of entertainment’s rising stars. Loud is part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir. It makes it clear that behind her fearsome laugh is a mission and a life philosophy, a strategy for self-confidence from the inside out, and a pathway to once and for all remove men from the center of how women and femmes think about themselves.
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Eye opening, funny , and sad look into the life of women/fems and what they go through on a daily basis
- By casey bolding on 08-15-24
By: Drew Afualo
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Want
- Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous
- By: Gillian Anderson
- Narrated by: Gillian Anderson, Anonymous
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain. And yet for many reasons—some complicated, some not—so many of us don’t talk about it. Our deepest, most intimate fears and fantasies remain locked away inside of us, until someone comes along with the key. Here’s the key. In this generation-defining book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous letters of hundreds of self-identifying women from around the world (along with her own anonymous letter).
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Gillian goes over the top
- By MRD on 10-24-24
By: Gillian Anderson
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Dream Count
- A Novel
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sandra Okuboyejo, A'rese Emokpae, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship.
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The authenticity of the languages and accents.
- By Lois Moore on 04-22-25
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Nuclear War
- A Scenario
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have. Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario.
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Apocalyptic
- By Anonymous User on 04-12-24
By: Annie Jacobsen
What listeners say about The Manicurist's Daughter
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- Kevin McMahon
- 04-02-24
Raw, emotional, and superb storytelling
Susan recounts a history encompassing 4 generations of Immigrants and revealing deep wounds not only within herself, but ones that impacted every member of her family on the surface and otherwise.
the energy she brings as the narrator is infectious, and demands your attention at every turn and new detail uncovered in her investigation of her mother's death, and trying to connect to her more deeply as her own journey into motherhood is on the horizon.
Worth every second of the recording, and it's a journey that will hopefully inspire reflecting on your own history as it has mine.
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- LV
- 04-26-24
Bo qua di…vs tiem loi di
Thanks, sis for taking me to my first #booksigningevent for @susanlieu ‘s book
#manicuristsdaughter @advancebeautycollege
I love the audiobook! Read by the author herself, she adds tone (all SIX tones and more)! I loved hearing her stories because it made me feel so much less alone. Being my mom’s first born as an American born Vietnamese, it was often difficult to grasp both cultures fully. To the Vietnamese, i was never Vietnamese enough… to the Americans, i wasnt American…my son is mixed and also struggles with not being this or that enough… we are not alone… and to have this book written in an easy going, comical but exposed / raw way… it is easy for me to listen to this w my son and say:
See? We all struggle together…in similar / different ways. How we work thru the struggle shapes who we are and strengthens our character. I am ME enough and you are the perfect amount of this AND that!
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- Rebekah
- 05-25-24
What a beautiful reflection
I first heard Susan's story through her 1-woman show, and loved getting a fuller picture through this book. The story was so moving, and hearing it told in the author’s voice gave it extra dimension… especially with all her Vietnamese pronunciations. It felt intimate to experience Susan’s recollections and explorations of her family’s experience right along with her. Beautiful exploration of grief, healing, self-discovery, family dynamics, and the experience of being a first-generation Vietnamese-American. Highly recommend.
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- Eve Harstad
- 06-06-24
Finding oneself in the untold story
Susan Lieu is a brilliant storyteller. Vulnerable, funny, honest and relatable. Reading her story I could connect with the emotions of sifting through all the feelings of one’s experience. Gaining moments of realization through reflection that everyone has a story, even our parents.
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- Aboey
- 10-11-24
unbelievable story told in a beautiful way
glad the author read the story. wonderful story and performance delivered by the author. Great closure.
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- Sunny
- 03-20-24
So glad Lieu brought her family's story to light!
I don't usually purchase a newly-released book until there are a few reviews to go off of, but the cover and description drew me in to Lieu's story. I'm so glad I didn't wait - I LOVE this memoir! What a compelling story with ALL of the feels...I adore Lieu's humor and narration...and wow, such heart to persevere for SO many years in the face of so much resistance to discover who her mom really was and what really happened. I'm so glad you took your mom's advice, Susan, and you did not cover up the story - thank you for sharing it with us!
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- EM81
- 07-24-24
Amazing memoir
I love how raw this memoir is. As an immigrant myself, I was able to connect with Susan’s story and family struggles.
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- Patrick Latchaw
- 07-21-24
Incredible emotional journey
The author was incredible. What a powerful story. When we feel we heal. Wow, can’t wait to see what she does next.
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- Schmulie
- 02-05-25
Among the best!
I’m into memoirs, and although this has some very big holes, it’s among the best I’ve listened to in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, the plot holes I found are probably among the things Susan didn’t feel comfortable talking about since everyone but her mother is still living. It was funny and sad and thought provoking and heartbreaking and healing all at the same time. Loved it.
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- M reviewer
- 03-22-24
An engaging and true story of a young girls journey into adulthood, discovering the truth about her mother’s death.
 Have you ever had a manicure and pedicure and wondered what the workers were saying in Vietnamese? This story is about immigrants coming to America and establishing a business so that their children could have a better life. When the mother suddenly dies the father and four children have to figure out how to move forward.
This story searches for the meaning of the loss of a mother but is told with all the truth and comedy including body image, judgy family, good food, career paths, four generations, culture, spirituality, community, opportunities and just life in general.
I listen to the audiobook and enjoyed the Vietnamese language and accents as read by the author….but missed the photos that are in the book.
Great work Susan!
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