A story of family secrets and discovery, of confession and revelation, Monique Truong’s second novel Bitter in the Mouth follows Linda Hammerick, who has a secret sense—she can “taste” words. She falls for names and what they evoke: Canned peaches. Dill. Orange sherbet. Parsnip (to her great regret). In this celebration, actress Cindy Cheung will appear as Linda Hammerick in a reading followed by a miracle berry taste-a-thon. What will you taste after eating the fruit that makes everything sweet?

Monique Truong’s first novel, The Book of Salt, was a New York Times Notable book, a Chicago Tribune Favorite Fiction, a Village Voice 25 Favorite book, and a Miami Herald Top 10 book of 2003. Truong was also the recipient of the Bard Fiction Prize, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the PEN American-Robert Bingham Fellowship, the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles National Literary Award, and the Asian American Literary Award, among other honors. Truong was a contributing co-editor of Watermark: An Anthology of Vietnamese American Poetry & Prosepublished by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop (1998). Most recently, she was a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University (academic year 2007-08). Born in Saigon, Monique Truong came to the United States in 1975 at the age six. She graduated from Yale College and the Columbia University School of Law, going on to specialize in intellectual property. Truong lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Cindy Cheung is an actress and singer from Los Angeles and has worked in NYC for over a decade in theater, film and TV. Her film credits includeChildren of Invention (Sundance 2009), Lady In The Water, Robot Stories and Falling For Grace. TV appearances include “White Collar,” “Fringe,” all three “Law and Orders,” “One Life To Live” and “Sex and the City.” She lives in NY with her husband, novelist Ed Lin.