In spite of the distractions that moving and my day job have been providing me of late, I am thrilled to say that the brilliant author and all around lovely person, Jennifer Cody Epstein will be on my blog tomorrow talking about how her daughter fell in love with Shakespeare. I’ve been in love with the Bard since I was twelve, so I can relate.
Tune in tomorrow for some Shakespearean joy, and for my review of Jennifer’s brilliant new novel THE GODS OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT, available in all stores everywhere. Do yourself a favor, and pick up a copy. It is truly riveting.
THE GODS OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT on Amazon
A lush, exquisitely rendered meditation on war, The Gods of Heavenly Punishmenttells the story of several families, American and Japanese, their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses, and how they are all connected by one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.
In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.