The author's previous novel, When the Emperor Was Divine, was a selection for Seattle Reads several years ago, so I think many of us are familiar with her very fine work. This novella length book is made up of six short sections that trace the stories of young Japanese women brought over by boat at the turn of the 20th century to San Francisco as mail order brides (picture brides). The book is narrated in "first person plural" which means that there is not one particular person to follow but we get to know them as a group. When we first meet them on the boat we see that they are full of hope and feeling so excited that they have the opportunity to come to a new country and start a new life. After they arrive and they meet their husbands we see that the reality of what they have really taken on will be lives as domestic help, field workers, prostitutes and merchants. The writing is sparse and concise yet dramatic and right to the point and you feel their despair at times as their American born children start to reject anything Japanese. The books ends with the start of WWII and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is sad to see them lose everything they have worked so hard for as they are being sent to the Internment camps. Julie Otsuka has given us another reminder of what being Japanese American was like in such uncertain times. ~Cindy