The Goat Milk Baby: Memoir of a Vietnamese-Born Australian Scientist

When a little girl was born in Saigon a few days after the end of the war, she was named, Minh Nguyêt (Bright Moon). When the baby was two months old and her mother had no breastmilk left, a kind relative gifted the family a goat. Every morning for three months, her mother gathered enough milk to feed Minh Nguyêt. And so began the goat milk baby’s journey through life.

In a captivating memoir, Pham chronicles her family history and coming-of-age experiences as she relied on her instincts, learned from mistakes, focused on her studies, married, became a retail pharmacist, had a baby, and gave her blessing for her husband to travel to Australia for work. But when South Vietnam began losing one town after another to the Viet Cong and she made desperate arrangements to escape to Australia, Pham had no idea that she was securing passage on the last plane to leave Saigon. While disclosing how she rebuilt her life and overcame diverse challenges, Pham also reveals how an encounter with a special bacterium presented her with an unexpected yet exciting scientific discovery.

The Goat Milk Baby is the autobiography of a Vietnamese-born Australian scientist who navigated through early difficulties to become a better, stronger, and happier person.