With his wife's persuasive voice in his head and the echo of their love in his heart, Bin embarks on an unforgettable journey into his past that will throw light on a dark time in history. Both running from grief and driving straight toward it, Bin must ask himself whether he truly wants to find First Father, the man who made a fateful decision that almost destroyed his family all those years ago. Requiem by Frances Itani was wonderful written novel that gives a revealing look into the Japanese internment of the Canadians in British Colombian. One hundred miles from the 'Protected Zone,' they had to form new makeshift communities without direct access to electricity, plumbing, or food-for five years.įifty years later, after his wife's sudden death, Bin travels across Canada to find the biological father who has been lost to him. They were allowed to take only the possessions they could carry, and Bin, as a young boy, was forced to watch neighbors raid his family's home before the transport boats even undocked. In 1942, in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Canadian government removed Bin Okuma's family from their home on British Columbia's west coast and forced them into internment camps. With a precise, elegant style Itani avoids the maudlin, and delivers a taut novel.'-Jane Christmas, Macleans 'A beautiful, slow, meandering read that explores the past of Japanese Canadians in a particularly resonant way.'-Sally Ito, The Globe and Mail (Favorite Book of the Year), 'In Requiem, Frances Itani is at the height of her powers.

In her new novel, she traces the lives, loves, and secrets in one Japanese-Canadian family during and after their internment in the 1940s. A] perfectly modulated novel.'- The Washington PostĪn extraordinary researcher and scholar of detail, Frances Itani-author of the best-selling novel Deafening-excels at weaving breathtaking fiction from true-life events. Requiem delicately probes the complex adjustments we make to live with our sorrows. Requiem delicately probes the complex adjustments we make to live with our sorrows. A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year 'Remarkable.

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