The Blossom and the Firefly
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning author of Flygirl comes this powerful WWII romance between two Japanese teens caught in the cogs of an unwinnable war, perfect for fans of Salt to the Sea, Lovely War, and Code Name Verity.
Japan 1945. Taro is a talented violinist and a kamikaze pilot in the days before his first and only mission. He believes he is ready to die for his country . . . until he meets Hana. Hana hasn't been the same since the day she was buried alive in a collapsed trench during a bomb raid. She wonders if it would have been better to have died that day . . . until she meets Taro.
A song will bring them together. The war will tear them apart. Is it possible to live an entire lifetime in eight short days?
Sherri L. Smith has been called "an author with astonishing range" and "a stellar storyteller" by E. Lockhart, the New York Times-bestselling author of We Were Liars, and "a truly talented writer" by Jacqueline Woodson, the National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming. Here, with achingly beautiful prose, Smith weaves a tale of love in the face of death, of hope in the face of tragedy, set against a backdrop of the waning days of the Pacific War.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This absorbing historical novel, set in Japan during eight days in 1945, thrusts two teens in the midst of war into a charged romance. The alternating narration follows the first-person account of 15-year-old Hana, a former student who serves as a maid to pilots on the military training base in her hometown of Chiran, and via a third-person point of view 16-year-old violin virtuoso turned air cadet Taro, who trains as a kamikaze pilot. Flashbacks offer insight into prewar Japan, the war's origins, and the upbringing of both main characters. Each protagonist's impending sense of mortality heightens the atmosphere. Hana, who was recently buried for an hour after a bombing, struggles with posttraumatic feelings of detachment; Taro stifles anxiety as he prepares to fly his plane into a target, and then must deal with isolation and shame after a missed attempt. The characters notice each other when Hana hears Taro play his violin, and Smith (Pasadena) capably sketches their attraction and courtship. Though the end feels a bit tidy, the novel rich with Japanese cultural details (kimono, gifts of salted plums) and a sense of place ably portrays the stakes of war and love. Ages 12 up.
