Ces Japonaises ont tout abandonné au début du XXe siècle pour épouser aux États-Unis, sur la foi d'un portrait, un inconnu. Celui dont elles ont tant rêvé, qui va tant les décevoir. Choeur vibrant, leurs voix s'élèvent pour raconter l'exil : la nuit de noces, les journées aux champs, la langue revêche, l'humiliation, les joies aussi. Puis le silence de la guerre. Et l'oubli.

D'une écriture incantatoire, Julie Otsuka redonne chair à ces héroïnes anonymes dans une mosaïque de la mémoire éblouissante. Un roman bouleversant.

Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award For Fiction National Book Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist A New York Times Notable Book A gorgeous novel by the celebrated author of When the Emperor Was Divine that tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as picture brides nearly a century ago. In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war. Once again, Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.
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Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, When the Emperor Was Divine is the critically acclaimed debut novel by bestselling writer Julie Otsuka - author of The Buddha in the Attic - in which she explores the lives of Japanese immigrants living in America during the Second World War. It is four months after Pearl Harbour and overnight signs appear all over the United States instructing Japanese Americans to report to internment camps for the duration of the war. For one family it proves to be a nightmare of oppression and alienation. Explored from varying points of view - the mother receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on the long train journey; the son in the desert encampment; the family's return home; and the bitter release of their father after four years in captivity - it tells of an incarceration that will alter their lives for ever. Based on a true story, Julie Otsuka's powerful, deeply humane novel tells of an unjustly forgotten episode in America's wartime history. 'Honest and gloriously written, will haunt you long after you've turned the final page. Brilliant' Elle 'An intense jewel of a book written with clarity and beauty' Marie Claire 'Vindicates the suffering of the Japanese in America . . . a blistering first novel' The Times Literary Supplement 'A compelling, powerful portrait of a terrible endurance. Terrific' The Times Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. She is the author of the novel When the Emperor Was Divine , and a recipient of the Asian American Literary Award, the American Library Association Alex Award, and a Guggenheim fellowship. Her second novel, The Buddha in the Attic , was nominated for the 2011 National Book Award. She lives in New York City.
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From the internationally best-selling author of The Buddha in the Atticbr>br>Alice is one of many for whom their town swimming pool has become the centre of their lives - a place of unexpected kinship, freedom, and ritual. But as Alice''s memory begins to splinter, her husband and daughter make the difficult choice to move her into a care home. There, as Alice reaches for the tethers of her past, her daughter must navigate the newly fractured landscape of their relationship.br>br>A story of family, of loss, of the burdens and consolations of caring for each other, The Swimmers is a stunning and unforgettable novel of our time.br>br>PRAISE FOR JULIE OTSUKA:br>br>"Otsuka''s keenly observed prose manages to capture whole histories in a sweep of gorgeous incantatory sentences" Marie Clairebr>br>"Powerfully moving . . . intensely lyrical . . . verges on the edge of poetry" Independentbr>br>"A tender, nuanced, empathetic exploration of the sorrows and consolations of a whole generation of women" Telegraph>
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