Plum Wine

A Novel

By: Angela Davis-Gardner

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Hardcover | 1 January 2006

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
16.1 x 23.6 x 2.7

Hardcover

$52.75

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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

Industry Reviews

A mystery that unfolds as beautifully, delicately, and ceremoniously as a lotus blossom. One of the most memorable novels I have read in many years. - Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls ""A complex and lyrical story about love and betrayal, war and responsibility, humane and generous acts in an inhumane world, the contrast between the East and the West, and one woman coming to terms with the American role in destroying innocent lives after World War II and during the Vietnam War."" - Susan Richards Shreve, author of Daughters of the New World ""What makes this book powerful is its commentary about the long-term effects of war, the inability of human beings to ever get over the past or to really understand each others' cultures, and the devastating consequences of American foreign policy."" - Rebecca Brown, author of Excerpts from a Family Medical Dictionary ""Plum Wine is in equal parts mystery and romance, an enchantment cast with wise and graceful passion."" - Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

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