The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
Fiction suggested by Shirley
Brief synopsis: Under the threat of Hitler’s rise to power, a young Polish woman’s parents send her to live with an aunt and uncle in San Francisco. Alma Belasco falls in love with their young Japanese gardener, Ichimei. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, his family is assigned to Topaz, a Japanese internment camp in central Utah.
Allende, as she often does, picks up threads from the past and weaves them into the present. Alma now in a nursing home, begins receiving mysterious gifts. And, so forth… Allende’s descriptions are rich and lush. I think she’s a great story teller.