“The Gifts of Adversity shakes you and breaks through your thoughts to make you see life anew. The traumas of the Vietnam War, polio, forced relocation to the U.S., bullying and racist experiences, and clergy sexual abuse are terrible but transformative for this remarkable Vietnamese American author, clinical psychologist, wife, mother and extraordinary citizen-witness. This narrative makes one believe in the human capacity for enduring and transcending the worst that life puts humans through.”
— ARTHUR KLEINMAN, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Anthropology at Harvard University, author of The Soul of Care

“This excellent memoir is a treatise on resiliency. Refugees learn what people will do to each other and for each other. Dr. Tran tells of her personal traumas and of her quest for acceptance and healing. She demonstrates resilience by focusing on the heroic sacrifices, the kindness and the courage of the many people who helped her find a place in America. The Gifts of Adversity is a love song to diversity and an urgent call to action. Her story reminds us we are all deeply connected and need each other to flourish.”
— MARY PIPHER, PhD
New York Times bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia, Women Rowing North, and The Middle of Everywhere

“So often we wish away life’s painful challenges. Yet Dr. Tran’s courageous story illuminates the fact that the most difficult circumstances can awaken our resilience and reveal our indomitable human spirit. We discover how mindfulness and compassion can transform potential suffering into deep grace.”
—TARA BRACH, PhD
author of Radical Acceptance and Radical Compassion

“The Gifts of Adversity is a moving, passionate, and inspiring memoir of survival, courage, and success by a Vietnamese refugee who became the first Vietnamese woman psychologist in America. It’s a gift and a powerful illustration of how Dr. Tran transformed her adversities into hope, resilience, compassion, and acts of activism!”
— JEAN LAU CHIN, EdD, ABPP
Professor of Psychology at Adelphi University

“A story of transcendence, grit, and amazing grace. More than a “refugee story,” Dr. Tran inspires and guides all of us who have faced trauma to cherish the good in ourselves, empower the strength we found to survive, so that we may boldly challenge that which is evil and unjust. Her story stirs hope and urges us to each embark on our own healing journey.”
— SATSUKI INA, PhD
Professor Emeritus in the School of Education at California State University, Sacramento, psychotherapist, award-winning filmmaker, activist, and Japanese American internment camp survivor.

“The Gifts of Adversity is a timely book in the face of the #MeToo movement and the escalating anti-immigrants of color sentiment in our country. It is part self-help, part inspirational, part protest book, part textbook. All told with honesty, conviction, and a heartfelt desire to bringing awareness to the plight of refugees and immigrants while helping survivors of sexual abuse.”
— HOANG CHI TRUONG
author of TigerFish: A Memoir of a South Vietnamese Colonel’s Daughter