The Lantern Boats

The Lantern Boats takes place in post WWII Japan. The story follows the life of Elly Ruskin who is struggling with getting settled in Tokyo. Elly is half Japanese and she was repatriated to Japan from an internment camp in Australia even though she doesn't know the country well. 

The publisher's summary:  

Elly Ruskin is trapped between worlds.  Half-Japanese, Half- Scottish, she is deported from Australia to Japan after the war, but Tokyo is a city Elly barely knows.  In a whirlwind romance, she falls in love with a Scottish journalist and they marry.  Kamiya Jun is a teenage war orphan from the lost Japanese colony of Karafuto.  He is smuggled to the mainland on a fishing boat.  Captured by the police, he is handed over to the occupation forces, and finds himself unwillingly recruited to work in an underground intelligence unit run by a maverick American officer.   Now Elly thinks her husband is having an affair, and her suspicions will her down a treacherous path that will put everyone in danger.  Jun might be the only person who can help her.

The setting descriptions are what make this novel shine.  The realities of the post-war occupation of Japan are prominent.  You see that individuals who had jobs or lived in China or other countries before the war were viewed with suspicion, even though many of them were loyal Japanese citizens. The American troops occupying Japan were afraid of the anti-communist stance going on in their nation, promulgated by Senator Joe McCarthy, and possibly being accused of associating with one. The proximity of communist China and North Korea to Japan heightened the fear that there were spies everywhere. When Jun is captured by the Americans he tells the truth of how he came to be a spy for an underground organization.  No one believed his story though because nations did not select uneducated, homeless people to spy on their behalf.  A mysterious character named Vida Vidanto was being watched by several groups because she lived in China during the war where she wrote poetry.  No one actually believed that Vida was her real name either which resulted in some serious research into her background to determine who she was and whether she was a threat.

The realities of what mixed race people faced were also shown well.  Our Elly is always having to explain her heritage to police officers and military officials as well as the average citizen, who is just trying to avoid trouble be avoiding Elly.  Elly tries her best to put forward the fact that her mother was Japanese before she arouses any suspicion from others. The author knows her subject matter well.  She as an Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. 

I enjoyed reading The Lantern Boats. Having never read anything before about the occupation of Japan, I learned alot. The average Japanese citizen was just trying to survive the occupation and were acutely aware when it would end. The hope was always "when the occupation is over we can do X."   The ending was sad and I liked that the author used this approach.  It was realistic. Besides, do you really want to read books where you always know that all turns out well for the characters? 

I highly recommend this historical novel. 5 out of 5 stars.