by John Hamamura

Growing up on a Hawaiian plantation with other Japanese-Americans in the 1930s, young Sam Hamada trains in the martial arts of his native Japan. In California, he meets his extended family, and the beautiful Keiko. But as Sam and Keikos love blooms, she is forced to return to Japan and Sams family and friends have been interred in camps throughout the U.S. Sams knowledge of Japanese sparks the U.S. Armys interest and he is sent on a secret military mission to Japan where he is truly caught between cultures. From the tragedies of the camps to the bombing of Hiroshima, where Sams mother and siblings still live, Sam must navigate a world where his very identity both puts his life at risk yet gives him the strength to survive. This is a riveting epic about a boy in search of manhood, a girl in search of truth, and two peoples divided by war.