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Why She Left Us

A haunting novel of uncommon emotional power, Why She
Left Us weaves in and out of the personal tragedies and
political persecution of three generations of a Japanese
American family and exposes the complex, often destructive
bonds of love and honor that tie a family together.

At the center of the story is Emi Okada, a young girl who
finds herself pregnant and alone on the eve of World War II.
She gives up her firstborn, Eric, for adoption, but her
mother finds the boy and brings him home, intent on raising
him as part of the Okada family. This crucial event becomes a
turning point in the story as it dramatically alters the lives of
Emi's parents, siblings, and, later, her children. Betrayals and
secrets tear a family apart a family that is already struggling
with assimilation, intergenerational conflict, and war.

Narrated in turn by Emi's two children, Eric and Mariko, her
mother, Kaori, and her brother Jack, Why She Left Us
crisscrosses the century--from Japanese picture brides and
migrant farm workers to the internment of Japanese
Americans in the Colorado desert to contemporary Los
Angeles and Hawaii, where Emi's two children have settled
as adults. Sparely and exquisitely written, Why She Left Us is
a superbly accomplished first novel that illuminated the
universal relationships between mothers and their children,
while evoking the power of history to affect individual lives.

(text from the inside cover of the hardcover edition published by
HarperCollins, 1999)

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD

“Brilliant”
– International Examiner

“Ambitious…lyrical…intriguing”
          – New York Times

“Memorable and haunting”
                – Wall Street Journal

"Jagged, honest, and unpredictable"
          – Washington Post

“Enigmatic and engaging”
                 – Los Angeles Times

“A ferocious first novel”
– Newsday

“Intensely moving”
  – Denver Post

“Lyrical”
         – Chicago Tribune

“Rare power and immediacy”
– Baltimore Sun

“Highly recommended”
– Library Journal