THE FLOWERS OF HIROSHIMA

by Edita Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1959

In the more than ten years since her last book, Charade, which followed some Germans in Poland during the war, this shifts its scene to Japan but again is a contemporary fable of contrasts-- the grotesque horror of Hiroshima and its enduring devastation is in sharp opposition to the gentleness of Yuka-san, who tells the story, and the pretty graces of her tradition. Yuka-san takes in, as a lodger, a young American, and with great sensitivity as well as courtesy tries to protect him from the fact that she, and her younger sister Ohatsu, and her husband Fumio, are A-bomb victims. While her scars (a maimed arm hidden under the kimona sleeve) are frightful to see, even more frightening for Ohatsu are the memories of her mother's death, and her fears of the future and any children she might have. As the days pass, Sam cannot be isolated from the incidents which follow:- Fumio's ""sunstroke"" is the last phase of the radiation sickness which will now take his life; Ohatsu, about to marry, runs away in terror of the taint she may pass on.... A small story is, on the one hand, touching and tender, while on the other it is a terrible indictment of a tragedy of our time. It is inevitably and unquestionably moving.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION