The Woman in the White Kimono: (A BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick)

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The Time Before, The World Within, Out of Step, Counting the Days, Poppy's Seed, Three Extraordinary Years The Two Saras and I Know You, Don't I? Ana Jones not only writes in a beautiful and graceful style, but she also shows passion for her work by the way she presents the research she had to do while writing this novel. While this book is not a mystery or suspense read I could not stop reading it, there was such a strong pull for this story that I read it in just few hours. I highly recommend this book to all the historical fiction fans. A Welsh girl, trying to see the world piece by piece 🌏 Reading my way around the globe when I can’t travel it 📚

Usually when in a time-split novel, I find myself enjoying one narration more than the other. This wasn’t the case with this book. I loved Tori’s investigative journalist mind, and her clear adoration for the father she is no longer certain she knew. I willed her on in her quest, and as a reader could feel the conflicts she felt as she dug further into Jimmy Kovac’s history. Meanwhile, Naoko’s narrative is fascinating. She is a naïve girl of seventeen, accidentally falling pregnant and then secretly marrying a foreigner – a taboo in 1950’s Japan. Consequently her life is made difficult, and she is found torn between her family values and love for her mother and brother, and the wonderful love she feels for Hajime, the American soldier whose baby she now carries. When the worst happens and her beloved mother dies, leaving Naoko suddenly the head woman of the household, her choice begin to unravel her life.Japan? How do you think the story would have changed if Tori had read the letter while Pops were alive? Ana Johns tells their story through two women, Tori Kova, the daughter of Hajmine who is dying when the story begins and Naoka Nakamura who knew the boy that became the man.

The ground beneath my feet shifts, causing outward tremors in all directions. We stand on a cultural fault line, the fracture running miles deep, and the potential aftermath catastrophic. My intent may displace sides, but this baby connects us all like a bridge...” El final es totalmente emotivo y hasta cierto punto desgarrador, pero para mí fue un cierre perfecto, que viene a ejemplificar que, en la guerra, no hay vencedores ni vencidos, sino que todos pierden algo.This story is told in two parts by two women—Naoko's story when she was 17 in 1957 and her American sailor. The second part of the story is told in the present-day with Tori Kovac and a letter her dad hands to her as he is dying from cancer that was returned from Japan and talking about his daughter. The two tales are interwoven as they head towards a climactic ending that may merge their lives. The father-daughter relationship is an important theme in THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE KIMONO. How do think Noako and Tori’s stories would have differed if the mothers had been alive? The author's debut novel, The Woman in the White Kimono is about two women, oceans and decades apart and the one secret that binds them together. Ana Johns is a bewitching storyteller. Her expertly crafted tale mesmerized and gutted me while essentially holding me transfixed to my Kindle from start to finish. How is this astounding work her first novel?!? I rarely cry but this poignantly written book moved me to tears several times and, okay, I will even confess to ugly cry sobbing. Any author who can perform such a rare fete deserves a ten-star rating. Reading is fabulous, and one of the things I love about it is that I can read books set in new places, new cultures, and feel like I’ve learned a little about them. The Woman in the White Kimono is just like that. Japanese culture and traditions are a huge part of the book, right from the beginning, and it’s really interesting to read about. Moreover, it lends a greater understanding to the choices that Naoko made and, eventually, Jimmy Kovac too.

The fact The Eugenic Protection Law is mentioned in the ‘Author’s Note,’ but not explored in more detail, gives the writing less traction and makes light of the situation in Japan in the 1950s. This may have been deliberate on the part of the author and the publisher; the truth would have watered down the romance. The book fully covers the topic of abortion but skims over society’s opinion of “blood-mixing”. It was a hot topic in those days and the prohibition of American men marrying Japanese women as part of this Eugenic Law was a subject on everyone’s lips, including the press, teachers, and social activists. If it had been examined in more detail, it could have deepened Naoko’s character and the story would have been more authentic. Written with empathy, sympathy and candour. Breath taking, well paced, tense, excellent character development and a realistic ending. Top marks. This book has dual storylines, but I loved that the author really let the historical story shine! Naoko’s story was the more interesting of the two, so I was glad that the author devoted more time to it and was able to really flesh it out. Ana Johns was inspired by true stories to write this novel. Her writing is glorious and poetic with a beautiful setting. I knew very little about this time in US and Japanese history. The choices Naoko faced were devastating. Her love for Hajime was so stunningly drawn. relate to today’s society in America? Are there ways in which cultural norms about race and gender impact our lives today?At first, what felt like a wonderful, though emotional, piece of historical fiction soon became something else too. An almost-biography of all those children that either lived or died, of all those parents that were torn apart due to their nationalities and cultural differences. To conclude: Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor, a gaijin—and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations. Book Review: All Mixed Up (Common Threads #8) by Heidi Hutchinson @smartypantsromance @heidi_hutchinson October 23, 2023

Ana Johns swept me away with her words and her stunning storytelling. Two women, two countries, thousands of miles and decades of years apart, but there is something that binds them. Japan 1957 Naoko finds herself caught between love, culture, and family obligations. Naoko is 17 and her parents have arranged a marriage for her, a marriage that will help her family’s business out immensely. The problem is Naoko is in love with another man, an American soldier. Not only does this not go over well with her family, but it does not go over well with most of Japan who still sees America as the enemy in this post WWII era. But Naoko is determined to follow her heart, but how much will she lose in the process? The US, present day Tori is taking care of her ailing father when she discovers a letter full of secrets. After her dad passes away she sells his beloved Cadillac and takes a journey to Japan to find out the truth. La mujer del kimono blanco” es el debut literario de Ana Johns, y vaya que lo ha hecho por todo lo alto. A pesar de ser una novela de ficción, está basada en ciertos hechos históricos reales y en la historia de su propio padre. True to her career as a journalist, the mystery is one Tori must solve. Who is this Hijime mentioned in the letter? Why is there a piece of red yarn inside? Short on funds, Tori reluctantly sells her father's beloved car so that she can go to Japan and find out what exactly happened while her father served in the armed forces, stationed in Japan. but must abort the baby. If you were faced with this decision, which would you choose and why? Do you think Naoko would have regretted her choice overtime? How did Tori and Naoko’s fathers act in their daughter’s best interest? How did they act in their own? Why do you think Pops didn’t tell Tori about his wife and daughter inAt the end is a section written by the author on the inspiration behind the novel. It’s horrifying to learn that the place Naoko ends up at is based on a real place, and that the events that occur are also based on truth. It’s one thing to read a work of fiction that details these things, but to learn they actually happened? To marry an American would be shameful for her and her family. Naoko becomes pregnant, and she is cut out of her family and left on her own to make decisions with grave outcomes impacting her for a lifetime. The Woman in the White Kimono, is a work of fiction based in 2 decades, the present day and Japan 1957. However, it draws its inspiration from the authors fathers own experience having met and fallen in love with a Japanese girl while he was enlisted in the US navy and the many Japanese women, exiled in their own country or discriminated against in the US. That is for the small number that managed to overcome the strict immigration laws in the US. La lectura no es solo amena y atrapante, sino que si realmente hace que te sientas una fuerte atracción por el mundo oriental y todo lo que lo rodea, disfrutando de un sinfín de detalles y curiosidades sobre Japón, un mundo simbólico se abre de par en par, repleto de tradiciones y rituales. Su narración es sencilla, pero hermosa.