Evergreen

Book cover of Evergreen

Book description

A Japanese American nurse's aide navigates the dangers of post-WWII and post-Manzanar life as she attempts to find justice for a broken family in this follow-up to the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning Clark and Division.

It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar detention…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Evergreen as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Audrey Lee

Author

Shockingly, it wasn’t until taking an Asian-American History class in college that I learned about the US internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. My husband is Japanese-American, and so I now also have family who experienced this shameful time in our history firsthand.

Evergreen is the second book in Naomi Hirahara’s Japantown Mystery series, the first being Clark and Division. It takes place during post-WWII and centers around Aki (a nurse’s aide) and her family's struggles after being released from Manzanar in 1946. This backdrop and its inherent social injustices are adeptly interwoven with a murder mystery happening…

From Audrey's list on AAPI women with self-saving female protagonists.

Delia C. Pitts

Author

This historical novel pulses with empathy, humanely portrayed growth, and quiet unease, a combination which speaks to the social justice warrior and history fan in me.

I loved the book's exquisite exploration of 1940s Los Angeles and the collision of cultures as displaced Japanese-American citizens returned from internment camps to their old neighborhoods after the end of World War II. A young wife's tentative search for a shadowy murderer drives this mystery, which is a stunning sequel to Hirahara's acclaimed novel, Clark and Division.

From Delia's 3 favorite reads in 2023.