Truong's first novel, "The Book of Salt", published in 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, takes place in post-World War I Paris, and tells the story of Binh, a Vietnamese cook who works for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. The inspiration for the novel came from reading in "The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook" (1954) that Toklas and Stein had employed "Indo-Chinese" cooks. The novel explores themes of sexuality, diaspora, race, and national identity. "The Book of Salt" won numerous literary awards, including the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and a Stonewall Book Award.