PTSD. Shell shock. Society has terms to recognize wartime trauma in soldiers and the same terms apply to the long-term effects felt by civilians who are caught in battle. 

Author Lan Cao was one of those people. She was a child in Vietnam during the war, and she has vivid memories of what she witnessed during those years, including the Tet Offensive in 1968.

Cao fled to the U.S. in her early teens, but the trauma did not dissipate. It continued under the surface during her education and her successful career as an attorney and author. 

Those early experiences in Vietnam are still a part of Cao’s life, and they have filtered into her relationship with her daughter. “Family in Six Tones” is a vehicle that allows each of them to tell their perspective of their experiences. In the process, the pair educates readers on the effects of trauma and the therapy of empathy.