The Woman in the White Kimono - Ana Johns

Description

Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage secures her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community. However, Naoko has fallen for an American sailor and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations. 

America, present day. Tori Kovač, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation. Setting out to learn the truth, Tori’s journey leads her to a remote seaside village in Japan where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption. 

Inspired by true stories, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

I'm so pleased to be a part of the blog tour for this book today.

Review

The story is set across two timelines - 1957 Japan and present day America. I found it easy to know which timeline I was in thanks to the headings, but also the two timelines had a very different and distinct feel to them. The Japan timeline was soft and gentle with at times an ethereal quality. While the present day USA felt more frenetic. It was almost as if two different people had written them with the characters voice so unique to each timeline.

I've been to Japan and was really looking forward to being transported back there by this book, and it didn't disappoint. I love time travel books and although this strictly isn't one I felt like I had travelled back to the Japan of 1957 in reading this story. I began to feel like I really was there, I could see it all so clearly in my minds eye.

In the book we meet Naoko who is living in Japan in 1957 and Tori who is living in the USA in the present day. We hear Naoko's story and interwoven into it is Tori, who is trying to reconcile the Father she thought she knew, with the information he's suddenly revealed about his life as he is dying. As the book progressed I really began to root for Naoko. I felt her pain, bewilderment and anticipation at freedom. This was thanks to the atmospheric writing which is also so very beautiful. But not so flowery as to lose the story line. 

Through this book I have discovered another side to Japan that I did not know existed. Many of the prejudices in the 1950s Western world were mirrored in Japan including the thoughts around mixed marriages and their ensuing children, also the children born out of wedlock. This is dealt with very sensitively and the details throughout the book show how well researched the book is. The book is a work of fiction but the author used real events and stories from her own Father to write the story. The author's note at the end of the book made for interesting reading. The tears I was struggling to hold back at this point fell freely, as fiction and truth met.  

I'm giving five out of five stars to this book. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC to review and to Legend Press for inviting me on the blog tour today.

The The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns – BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick on The Jo Whiley Show – Order Now