What I’m Reading: The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I just finished up the audio version of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

I had seen this book in stores and have almost bought it.  Then I say it on the lending library list and snapped it up.  WONDERFUL book!  Of course there’s a boy and girl and a lot of history in and around WWII…a little modern day thrown in too.   What’s not to love??

Here’s what Amazon had to say, “This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. 

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.”

I immediately went to look to see what other books the author has written and realized I’ve read Songs of Willow Frost: A Novel and reviewed it on the blog here.  No other books by the author at present but I’ll be watching for more.

Amazon readers say 4.4 stars.  I’m going with 5 stars.  I LOVED it.