Author Description

When tragedy strikes a woman they loved, six friends gather at a coffee house named Liberetta to honor her life. That conversation inspires them to continue to meet each month to talk about their own lives and the challenges they face as young professional women in a rapidly changing Việt Nam. Careers that flourish and flail, mothers who push them forward and pull them back, loves found and loves lost: in their stories are all the complexities that confront modern women in a traditional culture. Social change is full of opportunities, as these women learn, but also of vexations and disappointments. As they discover on their Saturdays at Liberetta, it is good in times like these to have such friends who listen, who challenge, who support, and who care. Nguyễn Phương Thảo is a government specialist in GIZ Việt Nam and a former diplomat. Her work has brought her to many countries in Southeast Asia. She holds a Master's degree in international business from the University of Sydney (Australia). She is the founder and owner of Liberetta, the coffee shop where these stories are told, many of them drawn from the experiences she and her friends have lived. Cal Mackenzie is a writer and photographer who has resided and traveled widely in Việt Nam. His happiest hours there have been spent in the company of Vietnamese women and men, listening to them tell the tales of their lives.