IN THE AUTUMN WIND

by Dorothy Stroup ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 1986

A heartfelt, plain-spoken first novel about the effects of the bombing of Hiroshima on one Japanese family. Chiyo Hara is a Hiroshima housewife who, in the fateful summer of 1945, is merely trying to eke out a subsistence living while her husband, gentle schoolteacher Shintaro, is a prisoner of war in Manchuria. When the bomb drops, Kenichi, her oldest son, simply vaporizes, and Chiyo is scarred for life. What follows is a realistic and affecting tale of basic and pure survival. Chiyo and her remaining children--Yoko and Hiroshi--almost literally fight their way out of the rubble in the years that follow; they start a very successful business selling dolls to American GI's, and pray for Shintaro's return. He's finally released by the Soviets in the early 50's, but soon dies of tuberculosis, and Chiyo turns more and more to Hideo Nakayama, a businessman who is her partner in making dolls, despite the fact that her older brother frowns on her acting so independently--and when she marries Hideo, he disowns her. In the somewhat maudlin ending, Chiyo finally dies and is reunited with her vanished son Kenichi. A well-researched story of the terrible price the hibakusha, or survivors, had to pay--and, both as a novel and a testament to great courage, a welcome addition to the Hiroshima literature.

Pub Date: Feb. 18, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION