In this epic historical saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones meets Memoirs of a Geisha, two very different women find their fates intertwined. At the dawn of the shogun era, in 12th century Japan, Tomoe is strong but obedient, a beautiful onnabugeisha (woman who studies the art of war), the concubine and army captain to the reckless orphan Yoshinaka, whose vow to avenge his father’s death and oust his cousin from power takes over their lives. Yamabuki is the sheltered, shy noble sold off to become rough Yoshinaka’s legal wife, sent to live in the remote mountains of Japan, where her scornful lady-in-waiting is none other than the warrior woman Tomoe. As the epic Gempei War begins and the women prepare for battles both literal and of the heart, losing means death, but victory might mean losing everything.
When Shoko decided to marry an American GI and leave Japan, she had her parents’ blessing, her brother’s scorn, and a gift from her husband-a book on how to be a proper American housewife.
As she crossed the ocean to America, Shoko also brought with her a secret she would need to keep her entire life…
Half a century later, Shoko’s plans to finally return to Japan and reconcile with her brother are derailed by illness. In her place, she sends her grown American daughter, Sue, a divorced single mother whose own life isn’t what she hoped for. As Sue takes in Japan, with all its beauty and contradictions, she discovers another side to her mother and returns to America unexpectedly changed and irrevocably touched.
Winner of the ALA Reading List Award
Roses are Galilee Garner’s passion. An amateur breeder, she painstakingly cross-pollinates her plants to coax out new, better traits, striving to create a perfect strain of her favorite flower, the Hulthemia. Her dream is to win a major rose competition and one day have her version of the bloom sold in the commercial market.
Gal carefully calibrates the rest of her time to manage the kidney failure she’s had since childhood, going to dialysis every other night, and teaching high school biology, where she is known for her exacting standards. The routine leaves little room for relationships, and Gal prefers it that way. Her roses never disappoint her the way people have.
Then one afternoon, Riley, the teenaged daughter of Gal’s estranged sister, arrives unannounced to live with her, turning Gal’s orderly existence upside down. Suddenly forced to adjust to each other’s worlds, both will discover a resilience they never knew they had and a bond they never knew they needed.
Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths.
Married to a wonderful man and a mother to two strong-minded teens, Rachel hasn’t returned to her childhood home since being kicked out by her strict father after an act of careless teenage rebellion. Drew, her younger sister, followed her passion for music but takes side jobs to make ends meet and longs for the stability that has always eluded her. Both sisters recall how close they were, but the distance between them seems more than they can bridge. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian becomes enraged.
In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book—which tells the tale of real-life female samurai Tomoe Gozen, an epic saga of love, loss, and conflict during twelfth-century Japan—reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.
MARGARET DILLOWAY 