When The Emperor Was Divine

Product Description

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction When the Emperor Was Divine" is the critically acclaimed debut novel by bestselling writer Julie Otsuka
- author of " The Buddha in the Attic"
- in which she explores the lives of Japanese immigrants living in America during the Second World War. It is four months after Pearl Harbour & overnight signs appear all over the United States instructing Japanese Americans to report to internment camps for the duration of the war. For one family it proves to be a nightmare of oppression & alienation. Explored from varying points of view
- the mother receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on the long train journey; the son in the desert encampment; the family's return home; & the bitter release of their father after four years in captivity
- it tells of an incarceration that will alter their lives for ever. Based on a true story Julie Otsuka's powerful deeply humane novel tells of an unjustly forgotten episode in America's wartime history. " Honest & gloriously written will haunt you long after you've turned the final page. Brilliant". (" Elle"). " An intense jewel of a book written with clarity & beauty". (" Marie Claire"). " Vindicates the suffering of the Japanese in America...a blistering first novel". (" The Times Literary Supplement"). "A compelling powerful portrait of a terrible endurance. Terrific". (" The Times"). Julie Otsuka was born & raised in California. She is the author of the novel " When the Emperor Was Divine" & a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award the American Library Association Alex Award & a Guggenheim fellowship. Her second novel " The Buddha in the Attic" was nominated for the 2011 National Book Award. She lives in New York City."