The Translation of Love
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 20, 2017 3:19 PM | Last Updated: April 5, 2017
Lynne Kutsukake
After spending the war years in a Canadian internment camp, 13-year-old Aya Shimamura and her father are faced with a gut-wrenching choice: Move east of the Rocky Mountains or go "back" to Japan. Barred from returning home to the west coast and bitterly grieving the loss of Aya's mother during internment, Aya's father signs a form that enables the government to deport them.
But war-devastated Tokyo is not much better. Aya's father struggles to find work, compromising his morals and toiling long hours. Meanwhile Aya, born and raised in Vancouver, is something of a pariah at her school, bullied for being foreign and paralyzed when asked to communicate in Japanese. Aya's alienation is eventually mitigated by one of her principal tormenters, a willful girl named Fumi Tanaka, whose older sister has mysteriously disappeared. (From Doubleday)
From the book
The new girl had arrived shortly before noon. There was a sharp rap at the door and the principal, who was rarely seen outside the teachers' office, stepped into the classroom. Everyone automatically stood up, bowed in his direction, and remained standing while he and Kondo Sensei conferred in low whispers. The principal was a short, stout man, not much taller than most of the girls in their all-girls class, and Fumi couldn't help noticing that he stood on tip-toe when he was speaking into Kondo Sensei's ear. After this brief consultation, the principal returned to the doorway and reentered, this time followed by a girl who hunched her shoulders like an old woman and hung her head so low no one could see her face. She looked miserable.
"This is your new student," the principal said aloud. He was speaking to Kondo Sensei but now everyone could hear.
"I see."
"Shimamura. Aya Shimamura." He jerked his chin in the girl's direction. "She'll start today."
From The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake ©2016. Published by Doubleday.