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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
The violence of Japanese internment; some wartime conflict referenced
Language
Barely any
Clean literary prose throughout
Sexual Content
Barely any
A tender first love; innocent
Substance Use
Barely any
None
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The sustained grief of a love separated by racism and war; the weight of what wasn't said when there was still time
What this book is about
Henry Lee, a Chinese American boy whose father wants nothing to do with the Japanese, falls in love with Keiko, a Japanese American girl—just as the government begins the Japanese internment. Jamie Ford's debut novel alternates between 1942 and 1986, as Henry, now a widower, discovers Keiko's family's belongings in a hotel basement.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Japanese internment depicted with historical authenticity
Devastating separation of first love by governmental racism
Reader Verification
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