Garden of Stones
Suspense, mystery, and love drive the intricate plot in this moving drama of women in a Japanese American family over the course of three generations. In 1978, Patty is preparing for her wedding when her mother, Lucy Takeda, is accused of murdering a man in her neighborhood. Locals say they could identify Lucy by her horrifying facial deformity. Back to 1942, after Pearl Harbor, when Lucy, 14, is called “Jap” at school, and even her best friend avoids her. Lucy cannot speak Japanese; to her, we means Americans. But she and her beautiful widowed mother, Miyako, are forced from home in Los Angeles and imprisoned in the Manzanar concentration camp. Life in the camp is a big part of the story—the grim forced labor in Block Fourteen, the dust and heat and overflowing toilets, and also the sexual abuse that Miyako suffers. How far will she go to save her daughter? Patty sees photo albums with images of her gorgeous grandmother and mother. What happened to Lucy? The shocking revelation is unforgettable. --Hazel Rochman