Never Forget: A Book to Read in Commemoration of Japanese Internment

MOSES LAKE, Wash. , Dec. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eighty-one years ago today, Japanese bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. Shortly thereafter, Executive Order 9066 declared persons of Japanese descent in the Western U.S. to be considered a threat to security and subject to relocation. Shirley Miller Kamada, a Washington-based former educator and education director, brings her husband's relevant family history and her passion for historical accuracy together in her debut historical fiction novel No Quiet Water, due out from Black Rose Writing on Jan. 5, 2023.

Narrated by 10-year-old Fumio Miyota and his dog Flyer, No Quiet Water follows the Miyota family as they are removed from their home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, taking only what they could carry, and transported to inhospitable locations, among them Camp Minidoka, where Kamada's husband was born. The novel is one of cultural and familial perseverance, foregrounded by Fumio's coming of age.

A timely reminder of how precarious justice can be, Kamada writes that "this story allows readers to ask themselves how they, personally, would navigate the loss of freedom" as experienced by nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans. Essentially a work of social commentary, by using the viewpoint of a young boy and his dog, Ms. Kamada has depicted the unfairness and the damage done to interned families in a way that is suitable for all ages.

Kamada's novel was guided by her archival research and family records and is written with strict historical accuracy, vividly illustrating the conditions of internment, and the loss, confusion, and shame associated with this very difficult time in U.S. history. Kirkus Reviews calls it "well-plotted and engaging," and has lauded Kamada's unique narrative style.

Excerpts of No Quiet Water have appeared previously in The Seven Hills Review, and the first chapter won the 2020 Seven Hills Review First Chapter Contest.

If you are interested in interviewing Shirley Miller Kamada about her archival work, passion for education, and how she marries it all together in No Quiet Water, or would like to otherwise feature the novel, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Shirley Miller Kamada

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