Hue City

Twenty-five-year-old Carmen Maranan is the newest member of the notorious Ativan Gang, a group of scammers in Manila who befriend solo tourists. A college dropout, Carmen is desperate to see her mother, Nicole, who now lives with her new family in Hue City, Vietnam. When Carmen flees Manila for Hue, she meets Hai, a receptionist, tout, and part-time pimp. Ambitious and driven, Hai's goal is to be rich and run his own hotel. This dream feels closer when Hai crosses paths with Marina, a wealthy Singaporean yearning for a new life and love. Told from the points of view of Carmen, Hai, and Marina, Hue City brings you deep into the soul of Southeast Asia--from the faded, enigmatic streets of Vietnam's former capital Hue to the fraught, gritty drags of Manila and the gleaming, cosmopolitan environs of Singapore--as it reveals their intertwined journeys along the treacherous and sometimes heartbreaking path to starting over.