A richly imagined novel, based on historical fact.

Two sisters raised an army of women in the Vietnam of 2,000 years ago to fight against the occupying Chinese. It was women who succeeded in driving out the invaders, because the men had been conscripted to fight with the Chinese in foreign wars. This army employed the Bronze Drum to communicate with its far-flung warriors, and when the Chinese invaders eventually returned, the Bronze Drum was banned for a thousand years.

The story of these two heroic sisters is known to every child in Vietnam. Now Phong Nguyen brings it vividly to life for a wider audience.