'The Book of Salt'

By Liane Hansen

Published July 20, 2003 at 12:00 AM EDT

Liane Hansen speaks with Monique Truong, author of the novel The Book of Salt. (Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN: 0618304002) From a few lines in The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book, Truong reimagines the Vietnamese cook who was hired by the famous residents at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Binh, as he calls himself, is an exile from his homeland, where he was denounced because of a homosexual relationship and banished by his brutal father.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.