Robyn Walton speaks to Sydney author, Jacquie Pham, about her debut novel Those Opulent Days (Ultimo Press, 2025).
First, congratulations on your debut novel, Those Opulent Days! This spellbinding historical murder mystery transports readers to the lavish yet treacherous world of 1920s French-colonial Vietnam—a setting rarely explored in fiction with such depth and intensity.
At the heart of the novel are four powerful friends—Duy, Phong, Minh, and Edmond—whose lives of privilege, ambition, and secrecy come to a devastating crossroads when one of them is murdered. As the story unfolds through multiple perspectives—spanning the elite drawing rooms, shadowed servant quarters, and opium-laced parlours of Saigon—the reader is drawn into a world of wealth and deception, where colonial rule casts a long and ominous shadow.
Interweaving the complexities of class dynamics with the suspense of a classic whodunit, Those Opulent Days is a richly detailed historical novel that offers a sharp exploration of power, loyalty, and the far-reaching consequences of unchecked ambition.
We’re thrilled to spotlight your debut and delve into the mystery, intrigue, and history that make Those Opulent Days such a remarkable read!
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Your debut novel, Those Opulent Days, is a dazzling mix of glamor, intrigue, and murder set against the backdrop of 1920s French-colonial Vietnam. What drew you to this particular time and place, and how did you bring its opulence (and darkness) to life?
The inspiration came to me in the middle of a very long reading slump, where no book I picked up seemed to speak to me. So I thought, why not write a book I’d love to read? I’d always known that I want to tell a story set in Vietnam, because I hope to expand the narrative beyond the infamous Vietnam War and the refugee experience that are widely portrayed in mainstream media. And it just so happened that I attended a middle school in Vietnam that was built in 1917 by the French authorities during their occupation. In a way, I grew up surrounded by signature colonial architecture, like the symmetrical designs, French doors, pale-yellow paint and dark emerald green window shutters, so the period has always been at the back of my mind.
At the beginning of my research process, and this is very early on, before I decided I was going to commit to the idea, I came across two wealthy and successful businessmen. One was a Chinese Vietnamese real estate tycoon named Hua Bon Hoa, who is also the real-life inspiration behind Cao Hai Duy, and the other was Truong Van Ben, an entrepreneur behind the establishment of a rubber plantation at Dong Thap Muoi, the inspiration behind Khai Minh. I started toying with the fictional idea that they were childhood best friends, and what would happen if one of them was murdered. The rest of the novel grew from that kernel of an idea, the way ideas often do when we sit on them for long enough, and four years later, here we are!
Your story follows four powerful friends, their secrets, and a murder that shatters their world. If you had to swap places with one of your characters for a day, who would it be and why? (And who would you avoid at all costs?)
I fear my answer would get into spoiler territory, so spoiler alert!!! But if I had to, I would pick Tattler. Out of the entire cast, she seems to get the happiest ending, or at the very least, she is more at peace than the rest. I also admire her ambition and her desire to rise above her station.
The novel is layered with class tension, colonialism, and shifting loyalties. Was there a particular real-life historical event or figure that inspired any part of your story?
The murder mystery element aside, at its core, Those Opulent Days is a work of historical fiction, which means that very unfortunately, a lot of the events described in the book were real-life historical events. During my research process, I came across these extremely haunting photographs of the working and living conditions at rubber plantations and opium factories. In fact, there is a monument in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, that re-enacts the workers’ daily routines and the violence they had to endure. None of the workers is named, however, and in including such scenes in Those Opulent Days, I hope they could be remembered.
You balance multiple perspectives—friends, mothers, servants, lovers—each with their own motives and fears. How did you approach writing such a complex, intertwined narrative without losing the tension?
When I first start writing any project, I have what I call a ‘draft zero’ where there will be no editing involved. I just sit down and write out everything that comes to mind. So, the multiple POVs came very organically to me, and as I finished that draft zero, I realised I actually enjoyed that narrative choice. I began keeping a diary under each character, learning about their voices, their wants and needs, because I wanted to make sure they are all fleshed out and memorable in their own way.
I’m also visual learner, so having a physical map was particularly helpful. During the drafting process, the wall in my office genuinely resembled the stereotypical detective’s whiteboard. I assigned different coloured sticky notes to different characters, keeping track of their movements like I was stalking them. I also divided my wall into sections of timeline and places, so the process was thankfully quite smooth.
Let’s talk indulgence! Since Those Opulent Days is steeped in luxury, if you could throw an extravagant 1920s’-style party anywhere in the world, where would it be, what’s on the menu, and what’s the one rule all guests must follow?
I would love an extravagant 1920s-style party at Phu Quoc, the largest island in Vietnam. The sunsets there are absolutely magical, with multiple high-end resorts and white-sand beaches. Picture perfect! Traditional Vietnamese food would be on the menu—there are so many delicious dishes other than pho or banh mi, and I would love to see them elevated in a fine-dining setting. The one rule all guests must follow is to leave their phones behind! No taking multiple photos, choosing the right angle. Just enjoying the moment with their own eyes and being a part of the experience.
Finally, now that you’re a published author, what exciting projects are on the horizon?
I’m working on my second novel, which again, will be set in Vietnam. As of now, my main goal in my work is to shift readers’ immediate association when mentioning Vietnam or the Vietnamese people from the Vietnam War and the refugee experience. They are, of course, incredibly important to talk about, but I also want readers to see the Vietnamese people like they would any other people. They can be flawed; they can be complex; they can be resilient. And they don’t necessarily have to be associated with the worst thing that has happened to them.
Interested in more about Jacquie Pham?
Her website is here and here’s a blog post she wrote for Sisters in May 2025 about how research is like a kind of haunting.