Fifty Words for Rain

 

Asha Lemmie, 2020

This stunning debut can be read on so many levels.  At eight years old, Noriko Kamiza is abandoned by her mother and left with her Japanese grandparents.  Nori is bi-racial, the product of an affair between her beautiful Japanese mother, Seiko, and an African-American GI touring Japan just before World War II.  The grandmother, Lady Yuko, is related to the Emperor and keeps Nori hidden in the attic of her estate in Kyoto, never allowing the disgraced child to go outside.

Very suddenly, at age 11, Nori discovers that she has a half-brother, Akira, the son of her mother and her husband.  The bond between the siblings is the most moving part of the novel.  Akira is a gifted violinist and pianist and he champions his little sister and protects her from the hurtful grandmother.

This is a story of love and survival that will warm your heart.

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