This novel is about Japanese 'picture brides' transported to this country by boat in the early 1900s. In these arranged marriages, the husbands sent photographs of themselves beforehand. But often the men misrepresented themselves in many ways. For example, a man might state that he was prosperous when he was just a poor agricultural worker. The brides usually complied with the wishes of their families and went through with the marriages, joining their husbands in lives of poverty.
Then in the early 1940s, the U.S. government took the Japanese from their homes and interned them in large camps in the desert. This novel certainly is about the suffering of the Japanese immigrant women, or maybe it is about how to bear up under adversity, a sharing of the values that sustain people through hardship.
The writing is masterful, a continuous joy. This book has won many awards, and I recommend it to you most highly.
