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Part love story, part mystery. It's a great book, set in the Vietnam war era, which surprised me when I first read it. It seems to be pretty well based in reality and now I want to look up more information about Japan!

This book is about a young American woman, Barbara Jefferson, who goes to Japan to teach at a Tokyo university and the relationship she has with a Japanese woman who is her mentor and a friend. It also tells about the young woman's relationship with a young Japanese man, Seiji, and how that relationship plays a part in her mentor's life. As I used to work for an US community college Japanese programs, I enjoyed the read about the Japanese culture. Although it was a bit slow in the parts about Barbara's relationshipe with Seiji. Overall, I would recommend this book to a friend!

I thought this book was beautiful: in the prose and in the plot. I was especially pleased to learn about Hiroshima in a personal way, having previously just thought of it as an historical fact. Great characters - very true to life.