Saturday 8 December 2012

Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield

Title: Garden of Stones
Author: Sophie Littlefield
ISBN: 9781743560136
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publish Date: January 2013

Synopsis:


In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice. Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up-along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans-and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.

Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever...and spur her to sins of her own.

My Thoughts:

I knew nothing about what happened to the Japanese-Americans during WWII so this book was educating and confronting. The story starts in 1978 with a murder investigation involving Lucy, then through flashbacks we learn of Lucy harrowing past. After the death of Lucy's father, Miyako and Lucy are forced into Manzanar prison camp, this is the beginning of a series of harrowing events that test the strength of both Miyako and Lucy as they struggle to survive and protect each other in this horrendous place.

 Atmospheric and haunting this book was hard to put down and even harder to forget. This book has left me lost for words.

Thanks to Harlequin Australia for the ARC.