num_pages: 292
description: In the tradition of Memoirs of a Geisha and The Piano Teacher a heart-wrenching debut novel of family forgiveness and the exquisite pain of love When Amaterasu Takahashi opens the door of her Philadelphia home to a badly scarred man claiming to be her grandson she doesnt believe him. Her grandson and her daughter Yuko perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandoras Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan. She is forced to confront her memories of the years before the war: of the daughter she tried too hard to protect and the love affair that would drive them apart and even further back to the long sake-pouring nights at a hostess bar where Ama first learned that a soft heart was a dangerous thing. Will Ama allow herself to believe in a miracle?
language: English
title: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding
publisher: Penguin Books