Mary Queen of Vietnam 天主教堂是紐奧良越南裔社群的中心。越南戰爭後期從南越（the Republic of Vietnam）逃往美國的越南難民選擇路易斯安那的紐奧良落腳。因為這裡就像他們在亞洲的家園，有大河穿過，緊鄰大海。難民們憑藉自己的力量建立起 Mary Queen of Vietnam ，作為自己心靈的寄託和社群活動的中心。
生於越南，長在路州的 Bao Ngo 帶著長久存於心中對越南人、美國人、父母、自己、下一代等等社群內外身份符號的疑問，用鏡頭講述從聖誕、Mardi Gras直到春節，越南裔居民們圍繞 Mary Queen of Vietnam 的忙忙碌碌，探究三代越南人心中的夢想，向美國和路易斯安那展示一個長久被忽視的生機勃勃的社區。

With the coruscating gaze that informed The Sympathizer, in The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen gives voice to lives led between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her for a former lover, to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose older half-sister comes back from America having seemingly accomplished everything she never will, the stories are a captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of immigration. The second piece of fiction by a major new voice in American letters, The Refugees is a beautifully written and sharply observed book about the aspirations of those who leave one country for another, and the relationships and desires for self-fulfillment that define our lives.