“Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages…A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices.”– Kirkus Reviews “A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place … set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war–not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today’s world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel.”
— Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
“Jamie Ford’s first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.”
— Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.
BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford’s Songs of Willow Frost.
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It remains one of the most troubling chapters in U.S. history. In the spring of 1942, more than 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, most from the West Coast, were forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to internment camps in the interior of the country.
Though many books have explored the injustice, few, in my opinion, are as …
This book deals with some shameful events in our past and I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but I did and I’m so glad I read it. This book moved me to tears and to fits of anger. How can things like this happen? How can a father impose his will on his son in such a way that the son’s life is maimed and crippled? How can a mother stand by and watch …
This story begins in 1942 Seattle with the friendship between twelve-year-old Henry and a Japanese girl who is eventually sent to a concentration camp. Decades later, the new owner of the Panama Hotel displays some items that belonged to Japanese families while restoring the hotel to its former glory. Henry, now a widower, recognizes a parasol …
I don’t often venture into the romance genre, but there are exceptions to everything. This is a finely crafted and researched historical romance, set in the tragic days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Japanese-Americans are being rounded up and sent to relocation centers. These historical events cut through the lives of the two …
The characters, Henry and Keiko, in Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, are those most writers aspire to bring to life, people whose lives are so richly imagined that they must step from the page to whisper their story. This is not just a story of our country’s misapplied defense against a very real threat of foreign invasion through the shameful …
This book alternates between 1942, when the twelve-year-old Henry Lee was forming a budding relationship with a Japanese-American girl, and 1986, with Henry, now a widower, reminiscing on what might have been. At the center of the story is the Panama Hotel. Many of those snatched off to internment camps during WWII stored their possessions in the …
So well-researched and well-written. Jamie Ford gives us an excellent feel for time and place. And you really care about these characters.
I loved the story of Henry and Keiko, childhood friends from different backgrounds who are determined to continue their relationship despite the war that is crowding out life as they know it. A unique and unsettling perspective of Seattle during WWII.
I lived through this time..everything in this story is true!
What did happen to the Japanese neighbors who left and never came back? Or did they.
Good book
Who can understand, really understand first love? What happened during WWII to native born Americans of Japanese descent………was deplorable. This is actually a tender first-love story between a Japanese American and a Chinese girl. The circumstances are stressful and the final outcome are years in the making.
This book is a real eye opener about a very embarrassing time in our American history. It caused me to think again how I and other Americans feel and treat middle Eastern born citizens now.
I loved this book. It was nostalgic to think of what those American Japanese had to contend with. And they never recovered their keepsakes from the hotel OR from the burned piles of wedding photos and memorabilia. I did like the ending though. That was a surprise for me.
I enjoyed reading about this episode in our US history as to how we treated Chinese and Japanese Americans during World War 2. I thought
The characters were well crafted.
I have always enjoyed the WWII era pieces and the inclusion of Chinese and Japanese cultures into the storyline drew me in. Books that tempt me to research a time period or an historical event means it is very truthful to me and I need to find where history ends and fiction begins. This book definitely does all these things for me.
I loved this book. I have heard that it is going to be a movie…I hope so!!
Enjoyable story of two preteens of different races who see each other as friends while the world around them forces a divide. The historical setting was an important part of this story and was explained well. One learns about Chinese (mostly) and Japanese culture as well as the WWII decision to relocate Japanese/Japanese Americans. There is the …
It is difficult to imagine this treasure is a debut novel. Set during one of America’s most shameful episodes, the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans on American soil, this is a story of love, integrity and friendship conflicted by family loyalty, nationalistic and ancestral mores impassioned by the angry lens of the time. I never understood …
Very engaging coming of age historical novel