• My thoughts on historical accuracy in novels
  • Review Index
  • About me

At Home With A Good Book and the Cat

~ Is the only place I want to be….

At Home With A Good Book and the Cat

Category Archives: Asia

Omamori by Richard McGill

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by misfitandmom in Asia, World War II

≈ 10 Comments

This novel is set around events that are historical facts and will be freely discussed in this review. In the event that you weren’t paying attention during history lessons and are not familiar with what happened in Nazi Germany, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki then this review might be a bit spoilerish.

I just love scrounging used book stores and library sales, you never know what long forgotten treasures you’ll find and this is one of the best yet. I’m very glad I picked this one up despite the fairly unattractive cover, just look at what is on the step-back inside.

Is that artwork gorgeous or what? The story is centered around Hosokawa-Napier Limited, a silk weaving dynasty that was founded in 1871 between American and Japanese partners. The Great Depression has had its impact on the silk trade, and the current partners, Douglas Napier and Baron Tadashi Hosokawa have to look to new ways to keep their business alive.  Manufacturing and selling silk parachutes seems the perfect answer, but the only country currently spending money to build up their military in 1936 would be Germany…

A  difficult choice. Do you bankrupt the business, lay off your workers, close the doors and walk away? Or sleep with Hitler the devil? Along with those complications, there’s also the little matter of the children of these two great friends and partners. Maxwell (Max) Napier comes home from school and finds Hosokawa’s fifteen year old daughter Shizue a beautiful young woman and the pair are head over heels in love, but interracial marriage is not the done thing, especially for an old Samurai family like Hosokawa.

That’s the basic set-up and I don’t want to give away more, just fasten your seatbelts ’cause it’s going to be a bumpy ride. I loved this book, the writing and most especially the way the author put his characters into known historical events, giving the reader an up close look at those events through their eyes. No long-winded info dumps here, instead you’ll get a lively discussion at a business dinner to get you up to speed on Hitler’s Germany in 1936. An illegitimate child is added so that the reader can see first hand at how the Japanese shun those of mixed blood. You get to witness Kristallnacht though the eyes of one of the characters, and you’ll experience the terror of trying to get out of Germany (and Japan!) before it’s too late. Most compelling horrifying of all is putting one of the main characters directly at the center of the bombing of Nagasaki and seeing it through his/her eyes (I’m not telling you who). Terrifying stuff. I don’t know when I’ll emotionally recover.

I loved every one of the 750+ pages in this book and had a hard time finding an excuse not to call in sick to work so I could keep reading. There’s plenty of tragedy, heartbreak and nail-biting until the very last pages. According to the brief bio at the back, McGill took seven years to write Omamori and it shows on every page; and for a male author he really does a nice job with his female characters. This book was written in 1987 before the days of all things politically correct, so if you’re touchy about certain racial terms this book might not suit. The author doesn’t pull any punches with the details about the Japanese wars in China (a great touch sending Paul there as a journalist to witness it firsthand), and of course the bombing of Nagasaki, so if you’re a bit squeamish I’d recommend giving this a pass. This book is very much suited to fans of big fat family sagas with plenty of drama, angst and history. 5/5 stars.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

.

Join 91 other followers

Blog Stats

  • 127,602 hits

Recent Posts

  • The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick
  • Minette by Melanie Clegg
  • Call Up The Morning by Clyde M. Brundy
  • The Last Renegade by Jo Goodman
  • Let No Man Divide by Elizabeth Kary

19C England 19C New York 2011 Historical Fiction Challenge Alexandre Dumas Amazon Vine California Chat Daphne Du Maurier Elizabeth Chadwick England England's Civil War 17C France French Revolution Historical Fiction Historical Romance Library loot Medieval Period My Reviews North America Restoration England Richard III Romantic Suspense Russia Scotland Tudor England US Civil War Wall Bangers Wars of the Roses World War I World War II

What's in my reader?

  • A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
  • A Light On The Past: Elizabeth Chadwick
  • A Reader's Respite
  • Aneca's World
  • Bags, Books & Bon Jovi
  • Bippity Boppity Book
  • Dear Author
  • Earthshots
  • Flickr Scotland
  • Frances Hunter's American Heroes
  • Get Yer Bodices Ripped Here
  • Goodreads
  • Historical Fiction Notebook
  • Historical Fiction Online
  • Historical Tapestry
  • History Refreshed by Susan Higginbotham
  • Kill them all, God will know his own
  • Le Canapé
  • Let Them Read Books
  • Living the History
  • Outlandish Dreaming
  • Readin' and Dreamin'
  • Reading Extravaganza
  • Reading the Past
  • Royal Portraits
  • Scaling Mount TBR
  • Scandalous Women
  • Scotland In The Gloaming
  • Sharon Kay Penman
  • Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
  • Tanzanite's Castle of Books
  • Tanzanite's Book Covers
  • Tell Me a Story
  • The adventures of an intrepid reader
  • The Book Bloggers Shelf of Shame
  • The Lady Gwyn's Kingdom
  • The Lit Asylum
  • The Lost Fort
  • The Misadventures of Moppet
  • The Muse in the Fog Book Review
  • The Raucous Royals
  • The Romantic Armchair Traveller
  • The Tome Traveller
  • The Yorkist Age
May 2022
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jun    

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • At Home With A Good Book and the Cat
    • Join 91 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • At Home With A Good Book and the Cat
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: