num_pages: 250
description: A powerful and passionate novel, Obasan tells, through the eyes of a child, the moving story of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Naomi is a sheltered and beloved five-year-old when Pearl Harbor changes her life. Separated from her mother, she watches bewildered as she and her family become enemy aliens, persecuted and despised in their own land. Surrounded by hardship and pain, Naomi is protected by the resolute endurance of her aunt Obasan and the silence of those around her. Only after Naomi grows up does she return to question the haunting silence. 
language: English
title: Obasan
titlecomplete: Obasan
genres: Fiction, Historical, War, Canadian Literature, Canada, Japan, School, Classics, Historical Fiction, World War II
ratings_count: 7616
places: Alberta
series: Obasan
awards: awardedAt: 410256000000
name: American Book Award, awardedAt: 378720000000
name: Canadian Authors Association Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Penguin Canada