Publisher's Synopsis
“Triumphant. . . . Big, visceral, achingly humane.” — Jennifer Egan
One summer night in prewar Japan, eleven-year-old Billy Reynolds takes snapshots at his parents' dinner party. That same evening his father Anton—a prominent American architect—begins a torrid affair with the wife of his master carpenter. A world away in New York, Cameron Richards rides a Ferris wheel with his sweetheart and dreams about flying a plane. These three men will all draw together to shape the fate of a young girl caught in the midst of one of World War II's most horrific events—the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo.
Exquisitely rendered, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment tells the stories of families on both sides of the Pacific: their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses—and their shared connection to one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.“A page-turner thanks to its high-stakes adventure, torrid love affairs and characters so real they seem to follow you around. . . . Gripping.” — O, The Oprah Magazine
“Sweeping. . . . [A] harrowing novel of destruction and creation.” — Library Journal, starred review
“Expansive. . . . Bursting with characters and locales. . . . Painful, authentic . . . and exquisite.” — Publishers Weekly