Eagle & Crane
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- 45,00 kr
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- 45,00 kr
Utgivarens beskrivning
Two young daredevil flyers confront ugly truths and family secrets during the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, from the author of The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch.
Louis Thorn and Haruto "Harry" Yamada—Eagle and Crane—are the star attractions of Earl Shaw's Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family's belief that the Yamadas—Japanese immigrants—stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family.
When Louis and Harry become aerial stuntmen, performing death-defying tricks high above audiences, they're both drawn to Shaw's smart and appealing stepdaughter, Ava Brooks. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and one of Shaw's planes mysteriously crashes and two charred bodies are discovered in it, authorities conclude that the victims were Harry and his father, Kenichi, who had escaped from a Japanese internment camp they had been sent to by the federal government. To the local sheriff, the situation is open and shut. But to the lone FBI agent assigned to the case, the details don't add up.
Thus begins an investigation into what really happened to cause the plane crash, who was in the plane when it fell from the sky, and why no one involved seems willing to tell the truth. By turns an absorbing mystery and a fascinating exploration of race, family and loyalty, Eagle and Crane is that rare novel that tells a gripping story as it explores a terrible era of American history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rindell's satisfying third novel (following Three-Martini Lunch) sets a love triangle against WWII and a traveling barnstorming act. In 1943, FBI Agent Bonner arrives at the Newcastle, Calif., home of Louis Thorn to question him regarding the whereabouts of Harry Yamada, his former barnstorming partner, and Harry's father, Kenichi, who have escaped from a Japanese-American internment camp. Suddenly, Bonner and Louis witness the takeoff and crash of a biplane. Authorities discover two bodies whom they believe are the Yamadas; Bonner suspects sabotage and investigates. The narrative then jumps back to 1940, when the young, plucky Ava Brooks meets Harry and Louis while traveling with her stepfather's flying circus. She's drawn to both young men. The narrative toggles back and forth between the early days of Harry and Louis's daredevil act, the feud between their families, and Bonner's investigation of Louis in Harry's disappearance. At times, Rindell's prose is stilted, and Ava's con-artist stepfather is over the top. However, Rindell effectively incorporates the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during WWII, and the fraught, complex friendship between Louis and Harry is as riveting as the truth behind the crash. Rindell's sweeping generational saga will please fans of immersive, meticulously researched historicals.