by K Fox: A welcome panacea to the times we are living in is how I would describe reading this story of Daniel Abe, a successful doctor in Chicago, as he returns home to Hilo two years after his mother Mariko’s death. A secret has driven Danial home, though, and I was enchanted by the story Tsukiyama weaves switching between “ghost voices” and “island voices” as the prodigal son and his long-ago community are united again.
A Powerful story of love and pain, told so gently through the eyes of Daniel, Koji, Mariko and Nori, I felt as if I was there, in the lush and abundant fields of Hilo, sharing in the lives of the characters and becoming part of the community. Hoping with each turn of the page that the forces of nature will not destroy their homes and livelihoods and wondering if secrets held so tightly will ever be revealed.
Gail Tsukiyama is the author of six previous novels, including The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Women of the Silk and The Samurai’s Garden.
