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There are a lot of books that deal with the internment of the people of Japanese ancestry during World War II, but not very many that deal with what happened to them afterwards. This is a fiction book, but the things that happen in it are exactly the types of things that happened to the internees who tried to return to the West Coast, especially California.

In this fiction book, Yuki and her family are interned at Topaz. Her father is threatened by some of the rough element there and they have to leave the camp. Her father had worked with the administration, and that is the reason why he was threatened.

They managed to find a place to stay in Utah, but their end goal is to return to the city of their home in California. They find the type of hatred there that was there before they were forced to leave. A cherry tree they planted had been cut down; a grocery store they and some friends want to open is set on fire; Yuki is yelled at while on the train to California, and the temple their things had been stored in was vandalized and they and many others lost their goods.

Ken is her brother and he served in the 442nd and was wounded. He has a lot to work through when he returns, especially something that now would be called survivor guilt.

Eventually, everything works out all right for everyone. It's a very nice book about a little-visited piece of history.



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