Publisher's Synopsis
Robert Takahashi sits in the empty attic of his mother's old home in Hawaii, a home he has to sell to cover financial losses from her nursing home care-and his own massive gambling debts. Once his affairs are in order, he can proceed to the next step: suicide. His wife is done with him anyway. His daughters-well, he's nothing but an embarrassment to them.
Robert barely remembers his father and knows little about his parents' past. But a manuscript he's just found-left under an eave and contained in a dusty box along with ten medals from the US military-will enlighten him about many things. As he reads his father's words, he discovers a story of a Japanese boy born in Hawaii, a life uprooted by internment, and a young Nisei's harrowing quest to prove his patriotism by serving with the renowned 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He also learns about a long-ago forbidden love-and how prejudice can derail a life-in this sweeping tale of family, war, and two generations of men battling powerful forces both externally and within themselves.