The Seekers of Deer Creek: A Novel

by Thao Thai

From the national bestselling author of Banyan Moon, a captivating, evocative story of two estranged sisters on a quest to find a painting by a forgotten Vietnamese artist that holds the truth of their family’s fractured past. 

Aside from the fact they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common.

Vivi, the eldest, lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, carefully preserving pieces of the past, all the while refusing to examine her own dark history. 

Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. She’s an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic, charming and intriguing everyone she meets. She’s also a recovering addict, constantly causing Vivi to worry.

Months after the two fall out in the wake of their father’s death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their father’s belongings. The sketch is an exact copy of Blue Mirror, a striking painting by a Vietnamese painter named K.P. Lý. In the letter, Lý writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their father’s deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together. Intrigued yet reluctant to follow her capricious sister, Vivi must decide whether she’s willing to face or shut the door to the past.

From the ghostly Wisconsin woods to a glittering estate in the French countryside to a sprawling ancestral home teetering on the edge of a ravine in Việt Nam, The Seekers of Deer Creek is a story of sisters, art, and the irresistible gravity of the past—how it endures across time and generations, always present even when buried.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 4, 2026

About the author

I’m the author of Banyan Moon, the July 2023 Read with Jenna title, Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, and Book of the Month selection. Banyan Moon was also selected by booksellers as an IndieNext pick. The novel was awarded the Crook's Corner Book Prize and longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. A recipient of the 2024 Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Excellence Award, my work has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, WIRED, Elle, Lit Hub, and other publications. I live in central Ohio with my husband and daughter. My forthcoming novel, The Seekers of Deer Creek, will be released August 4, 2026.

Reviews

[Mai H.]

ANHPI TBR

I loved the generational trauma in BANYAN MOON so lfg, y'all ✌🏼

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seekers of Deer Creek by the multi faceted writer Thai Thai, was written as an art history based mystery, but develops as an ode to sisterhood and overcoming a tumultuous childhood. Set in the Midwest, we watch the Nguyen sisters Vivi and Calla set out to find out their mysterious ancestors history through France and Vietnam.

I can see Thai writing a mystery/thriller novel in the future, as this one had me on. the edge of my seat as it quickly dives into the mystery of a Vietnamese artist. By the middle, the book becomes more of a nod to sisterhood, as Vivi and Calla's strained relationship is delved into. I do wish the back stories between Vivi and Calla would have been more fleshed out, as there are very limited descriptions of what truly went awry in their past, but you get the idea throughout.

Thao Thai’s second novel after the stellar Banyan Moon is brisk, exciting, but also a passionate tale of hidden love, but overall Deer Creek is both heartfelt and exciting.

[Lizzie L · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Thai’s second novel, two sisters come together in a transcendent journey to understand a painting, its history, and one another. From the woods of Wisconsin, across the world to the French countryside and Vietnam, a story unfolds of both the past and the future, togetherness and independence, knowing and unknowing. What begins as a somewhat desperate pursuit for answers, progresses into a beautiful novel examining art, love, and character. Will Vivi and Calla find what they are looking for??

This would be a perfect read for book club! Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC!

[Brie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire book feels like a love letter, a long-lost family heirloom. The Seekers of Deer Creek has the scent of your grandmother's jewelry box. Art that heals. People who have decided to change. The complex and intricate relationships that forms when the formative years are marked by trauma.

I don't think I have the words to describe how reading this book made me feel. My heart is broken, but it's also filled with so much hope.

The prose is enchanting, and the mystery keeps you intrigued every moment. The pacing is excellent.

Today is December 30, 2025, and this is one of the best reads I’ve had this year.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC!

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a really beautiful story centered around two sisters, family, and the things we withhold from others. While being a true novice around art history, I love reading about it and the details around Vivi’s conservation/restoration efforts and knowledge were a real treat. The author definitely already knew their stuff or did an amazing amount of research.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

arc-provided-by-publisher

[Quill (thecriticalreader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

Thao Thai’s sophomore novel contains her signature stunning prose and emotional storytelling, but suffers from plot conveniences and mawkishness.


Thao Thai’s debut Banyan Moon was one of my favorite books of 2023, so I was delighted to receive an ARC of her next release, The Seekers of Deer Creek. This book follows Vivi, an art historian and museum curator who cannot quite let herself trust in her good fortune. She has her dream job and an adoring partner, but she holds herself on guard for the other shoe to drop. Her sister, Calla, is an addict, and Vivi has felt responsible for her sister ever since her mother left them alone with their abusive alcoholic father as children. As Vivi’s museum prepares to open an exhibit featuring the mysterious K.P. Ly, a Vietnamese painter who disappeared in the 1940s, she discovers that the exhibit’s central painting has a hidden layer underneath it. Vivi risks her career to strip the painting’s top layers to reveal what lies underneath. Even more surprising, this painting seems to have some connection to her recently deceased father—and the investigation of this connection leads Vivi and Calla toward discovery, familial secrets, and confrontation with their inner demons.

The Seekers of Deer Creek features some of Thai’s beautiful prose that I loved in her debut. I also appreciated the emotional momentum of the plot. Despite the issues I had with much of the book, I still found it compelling as I followed the emotional highs and lows as the two sisters navigate a family mystery and their relationship with each other.

Unfortunately, there was much about this book that didn’t quite work for me. For one, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief at many moments. Since Vivi is an art historian, there are lots of references to academia, art curation, and historical research. It became clear that Thai doesn’t have a solid grasp of how these fields work. She describes the career of an art historian as an “attainable” and stable career path compared to artistry, which is laughable for anyone who has any experience in this field. This was just one of many comments and moments about historians/academia that pulled me out of the story.

For another, the mystery unfolds too neatly and too quickly to be believed. Everything falls into place without hardly any effort on the main characters’ part. There’s also a frame narrative portion to the story that I found hard to swallow, as I often do with frame narratives. While I understand that this needed to happen for Thai to reach the hard-hitting emotional beats she wanted, it irritated me.

Finally, the book’s sentimentality frequently borders on the mawkish. All of the characters are constantly having deep heart-to-hearts with each other in dialogue that is way too philosophical and sentimental to be believable. It was overdone and prevented me from fully investing in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her sophomoric novel, author Thao Thai follows the story of two Vietnamese-American sisters who've grown up in the woods of Wisconsin but whose lives have split once they entered adulthood. Eldest daughter Vivian Nguyen has long struggled with the self-imposed burden she's placed on herself to be the responsible, practical one; since the disappearance of their mother May when they were younger, she's taken on the informal role to be a stand-in mother to her younger sister Calla, who she regards as her complete opposite. Vivi works as an art conservator in Chicago, in a long term relationship with Samuel who has a young daughter named Phoebe while Calla is an artist who recently divorced Wayland, a childhood friend of both sisters. The two haven't spoken in years, but the passing of their father Tuan brings the two back together, but after discovering their father's unknown connection to a surrealist Vietnamese painter known as K.P. Lý, the two begin a journey that neither could have predicted.

In the chapters that follow, we're taken across multiple mediums, time periods, locations, and perspectives as Vivi and Calla begin to unearth the true story of K.P. Lý, where he traveled to for respite after disappearing from the art scene, his true muse and their star-crossed relationship - and on the journey, begin to unravel the truth about their own lineage and family. For Vivi especially, her memories of her father as an alcoholic have tainted her memories of him, an animosity that's bled over into her relationship with Calla as she eventually reconnected with him before his passing. The sisters travel to France and eventually a small village in Vietnam to put the final pieces together - revealing not just the truth of the past but confronting the reality of the present.

I loved Thao Thai's writing in "Banyan Moon" and her lyrical and poignant prose shines just as brightly in "The Seekers of Deer Creek". In Vivi and Calla, she's crafted two complex, flawed, yet fully believable protagonists - two sisters who have been hurt by the other, but still deeply care for other and find common ground in their shared love of art. I loved as well the storyline focused on K.P. Lý, especially as it gave me insight to the art culture at the time and highlighted how taboo topics we take for granted today were treated back then. The novel centered on a number of weighty topics - generational trauma; the violence that Vietnam went through in the 20th century; the longevity but simultaneous brevity of art; and the complex, ever-shifting forms of love, especially between family members.

I hope others will love the breadth and depth of "The Seekers of Deer Creek" and can't wait until it's published in August 2026!

[Igor DelRey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years go I read this author's debut novel and was happily surprised by their beautiful prose and family drama story.
Naturally, I was excited to read Thai's new novel, and she did not disappoint me.
Once again, Thai's stunning prose is a delight for the eyes. More family and relatable drama, this time mostly focused on two completely different sisters who are on a quest to finding out some mysteries from their past.
It's about family, heritage, secrets, and art.

My favourite part of this book was when the sisters were reading the diary of a certain famous painter, and when they find out the true identity of that painter.
The final third of the book, with the sisters visiting family in Vietnam, was also a favourite part for me. The family dynamics and interactions were lovely to read and everything culminates in a sad, but hopeful, ending.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who likes to read literary fiction with stories focused on siblings and heritage and art, in general.
Thank you, NetGalley and Mariner Books, for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Emily Westerwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second literary fiction novel from Thao Thai. She is local to me and I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at a bookshop event last year so I was excited to snag an ARC of Seekers of Deer Creek. If you liked Banyan Moon, you'll love this one. It's similar in it's themes of Vietnamese culture, generational secrets, and family drama, but this time with a side of art conservation and history. The prose was flowery and descriptive, pacing was a little slow. I liked how the story took us across the world as the sisters tracked down family members and artifacts to help them solve their mystery.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lyrical novel is an ode to sisterhood, family love and misunderstandings, identity, art and history. Thao Thai’s beautiful language draws you into the Wisconsin, Chicago, France, and Vietnam settings. The phrase that “narrative, after all that, was only a filter through which meaning-varied, contradictory, subversive-could soft” so aptly describes how people can see and experience the same event in myriad ways. I appreciated that the messy relationships were not all cleaned up, but that quiet forgiveness and understanding was a central theme. Adored the author’s first book also and look forward to reading her next books in the years to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Thao Thai hits it out of the park again with this epic tale of generational trauma, sisterhood, and love. I loved each and every character in this tale, and the unexpected twists kept me reading long past my bedtime. A beautiful tale.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advance review copy. All opinions are mine.

[Viv · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

thao thai did it again with her sophomore book. i knew i wanted to read this book the moment i heard about it but the story was so much more than what i anticipated, what an ode to sisterhood, familial love, art and (cultural) identity. and just the same as the last time, i will be looking forward to whatever thao thai put out next.

[Mary Fabrizio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet tale but the ending felt anticlimactic. The clues they were given seemed very obvious and it was hard to suspend disbelief. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha // fictionfigurine]

I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!

[Allison Olawsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

a beautiful story of sisterhood and forgiveness. thank you to mariner books for the early copy!

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Barbara]

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[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thao’s writing, as always, is a marvel. Brilliant, sharp, emotional — this is a book you need.