Plum Wine (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780299211608)

Barbara Jefferson, a young American teaching in Tokyo in the 1960s, is set on a life-changing quest when her Japanese surrogate mother, Michi, dies, leaving her a tansu of homemade plum wines wrapped in rice paper. Within the papers Barbara discovers writings in Japanese calligraphy that comprise a startling personal narrative. With the help of her translator, Seiji Okada, Barbara begins to unravel the mysteries of Michi's life, a story that begins in the early twentieth century and continues through World War II and its aftermath.
As Barbara and Seiji translate the plum wine papers they form an intimate bond, with Michi a ghostly third in what becomes an increasingly uneasy triangle. Barbara is deeply affected by the revelation that Michi and Seiji are hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, and even harder for her to understand are the devastating psychological effects wrought by war. Plum Wine examines human relationships, cultural differences, and the irreparable consequences of war in a story that is both original and timeless.

2007 A Notable Fiction Book of 2007, selected by the Kiriyama Prize Committee Winner, Fiction Award, Southern Independent Bookstore Alliance Notable Fiction, Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize

Author: Angela Davis-Gardner
ISBN-10: 0299211606
ISBN-13: 9780299211608
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 01/18/2006
Pages: 332
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.31lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.38w x 1.05d
Award: Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 02/01/2006 pg. 26
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2006 pg. 146
Publishers Weekly 03/27/2006 pg. 59
Booksense '76 March 2006 03/01/2006 pg. 1