The Seekers of Deer Creek
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Author: Thao Thai
Published: 2026
Genre: LiteraryFiction
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IBC Editorial Rating: 4/5
This book is handpicked by the IBC Editorial Team. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to have a book reviewed by IBC, you may reach us at editorial@indianbookclub.com — we’ll be happy to review it.
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Editorial Review:
Aside from the fact that they are sisters, Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common. Vivi lives an orderly, predictable life as an art conservator in Chicago, carefully preserving other people's histories while refusing to examine her own. Calla, bold and occasionally reckless, is a talented artist and recovering addict whose unpredictability keeps Vivi constantly worried. Months after their father's death drives a wedge between them, Calla appears on the steps of Vivi's museum with a sketch and a letter suggesting the existence of a lost painting by Vietnamese artist K.P. Lý, one Calla believes their father meant for them to find together. Reluctant yet unable to look away, Vivi must decide whether to follow her sister into a past she has spent years avoiding. Spanning Wisconsin woods, French countryside, and an ancestral home in Việt Nam, this is a story about sisters, art, and the past's enduring pull.
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Book Summary:
Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have built entirely different lives out of the same difficult childhood. Vivi has become an art conservator in Chicago, meticulously preserving the past in her professional life while carefully avoiding it in her own. Calla has taken the opposite path, channeling her considerable artistic talent into a life defined by spontaneity, charisma, and an ongoing recovery from addiction that leaves Vivi perpetually anxious about her sister's well-being. Their already strained relationship fractures further after their father's death, until Calla resurfaces months later at Vivi's museum, carrying a sketch identical to a renowned painting called Blue Mirror, along with a letter hinting at a lost work of art by the same Vietnamese painter, K.P. Lý. Calla is convinced this discovery was their father's final wish, meant to bring the sisters together in search of something that belongs to their family's history. Reluctant to indulge her sister's conviction yet unable to dismiss it entirely, Vivi finds herself drawn into an investigation that takes both women from the Wisconsin woods of their childhood to a glittering estate in the French countryside, and eventually to their ancestral family home in Việt Nam. Thai weaves this journey across time and geography, following Vivi and Calla as they confront both the mystery of Lý's lost artwork and the buried history of their own fractured family bond.
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Key Takeaways:
“Sisterhood tested by opposite ways of coping”: Vivi and Calla's radically different approaches to their shared childhood, one through rigid control, the other through impulsive freedom, become the emotional core of the novel. Thai treats their strained bond with real compassion, showing how differently siblings can process the same inherited pain. “Art as a vessel for buried family history”: The mystery of K.P. Lý's lost painting becomes inseparable from the Nguyễn family's own hidden past, suggesting that art can hold and eventually release truths a family has spent generations avoiding. “The past's persistent gravitational pull”: No matter how far Vivi has tried to distance herself from her history, the novel insists that the past remains present, quietly shaping every choice until it is finally confronted directly rather than avoided. “Recovery and worry within family bonds”: Calla's ongoing recovery from addiction adds real tension to her relationship with Vivi, illustrating how love and anxiety can become tightly intertwined when a sibling's stability feels perpetually uncertain.
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Iconic Lines, Scenes & Characters:
"Vivi": Ordered, cautious, and quietly avoidant of her own history, Vivi's reluctant journey alongside Calla forces her to finally confront a past she has spent years carefully preserving from a professional distance rather than facing personally. "Calla": Bold, artistic, and prone to disappearing for long stretches, Calla's conviction that the lost painting is meant for their family drives the novel's central mystery, her impulsiveness masking a genuine, urgent need to reconnect with her sister. "Blue Mirror and the lost painting": K.P. Lý's celebrated work, and the mysterious sketch and letter suggesting a companion piece, anchor the novel's central mystery, tying the sisters' search directly to questions about their own family's hidden history. "The journey across three countries": Moving from Wisconsin's woods to a French estate to an ancestral home in Việt Nam, the novel's sweeping geography mirrors the sisters' own journey inward, each new setting revealing another layer of their family's buried past.
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Who Should Read This:
Readers who love family sagas centered on complicated sibling relationships will find Vivi and Calla's fraught, evolving bond a genuinely moving central thread throughout the novel. Anyone drawn to art history mysteries that unfold across multiple countries and timelines will appreciate how thoughtfully Thai ties the search for a lost painting to a much deeper family reckoning. Fans of character-driven fiction exploring addiction, grief, and the long process of confronting a difficult past will connect with how genuinely Thai portrays both sisters' individual struggles. A note for readers: some of the backstory explaining exactly what fractured Vivi and Calla's relationship remains relatively unexplored, offering impression more than detail. Readers who enjoy piecing together emotional context from atmosphere rather than explicit exposition will find this approach effective rather than frustrating.
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IBC Editorial Note:
This review is part of the Indian Book Club’s editorial initiative to spotlight books that inspire, inform, and leave a lasting impact on readers. Every title featured is carefully handpicked and reviewed by the IBC Editorial Team to maintain quality, authenticity, and literary value. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to submit a book for review, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please write to us at: editorial@indianbookclub.com Our team personally evaluates each submission, and selected books are featured as official IBC Editorial Reviews on our platform.