Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet (2009)
Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet is a 2009 fiction book written by Jamie Ford.
Two timelines braid through Jamie Ford's debut. In wartime Seattle, twelve-year-old Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy, forms a tender friendship with Keiko, a Japanese-American girl, just as the government begins forcing families like hers into internment camps. Decades later, Henry is a widower with a grown son, sifting old memory after a find in a shuttered hotel stirs the past. Ford writes the historical wound gently, through one boy's loyalty and one family's silence rather than battlefields. A quiet, affecting look at prejudice, first love, and the things parents and children fail to say to each other.
Quick answers
What is Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet about?
Two timelines braid through Jamie Ford's debut. In wartime Seattle, twelve-year-old Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy, forms a tender friendship with Keiko, a Japanese-American girl, just as the government begins forcing families like hers into internment camps. Decades later, Henry is a widower with a grown son, sifting old memory after a find in a shuttered hotel stirs the past. Ford writes the historical wound gently, through one boy's loyalty and one family's silence rather than battlefields. A quiet, affecting look at prejudice, first love, and the things parents and children fail to say to each other.
When was Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet published?
Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet was published in 2009.
Who made Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet?
Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet was written by Jamie Ford.
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A few thoughts on Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet
Readers should try Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, who praised this book, for the same intimate historical bond; The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein for tender Seattle storytelling; and Farewell to Manzanar for a firsthand memoir of Japanese-American internment. The film Come See the Paradise covers the same history.
Coming of age against the backdrop of war
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet follows twelve-year-old Henry through wartime Seattle as internment tears his world apart. These historical novels and dramas put ordinary young people inside history's upheavals, where first love, loyalty and hard choices form under the weight of war.
Sweeping historical fiction across eras and battlefields
Jamie Ford writes his historical wound gently, through one family rather than the battlefield. If you want to keep traveling through the past, these sweeping historical stories carry you across other eras and conflicts, from tall ships and old wars to a bustling ancient city.