Los Angeles, 1946: It's been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar detention center and resettled in Chicago with other Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return home to California--but nothing is as they left it.
Perceptive ... Hirahara’s research and fine eye for detail illustrate the adversities faced by Japanese-Americans during and after WWII ... Hirahara’s affinity for sculpting real characters and placing them in historical context while creating palatable suspense shines in Evergreen.
Absorbing ... Not dwelling on bloodshed or perversity, [Hirahira] anchors her crime story in the realities of Aki and her family's daily life ... But Hirahara doesn't let historical background overpower the search for the killer. We're carried smoothly along by Aki's voice.
Beautifully crafted ... Hirahara expertly folds this crime story into her insightful and fully realized portrait of postwar America and the struggles of Japanese Americans to come to terms with the American society that had imprisoned them during the war ... A thought-provoking noir with a searing period flavor.
