Book Review - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Just finished reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This was for my book club. I really enjoyed it. It's an easy read with short chapters. The story is about love and loyalty and is set in 1940's Seattle during the time of World War II and the internment of Japanese people living there, including those born in the USA. . The year is now 1986 and Henry is still coming to terms with then loss of his wife when the new owner of The Panama Hotel, which has been boarded up since the war, discovers belongings stored by Japanese families sent to camps. Henry is plunged back to the time when  he was twelve years old and marked out as different - being the only Asian in the school and classed as a Jap. His life get better when he meets Keiko at school - she is American born of Japanese parents. They work together in the school canteen and form a friendship. Henry cannot tell his father about this because Japanese people are the enemy. Eventually Keiko and her family are evacuated into an internment camp. Can their friendship survive? Henry is now searching for something in The Panama Hotel and as the story unravels, Marty, Henry's son and his girlfriend begin to play their part in helping Henry to 'fix' things.

This is part of the war I don't know much about so it was good to learn. The descriptions are good as the reader sees the area known as Japantown disintegrating, people burning their photos and prized possession, anything that might make the authorities suspicious - not that it worked. It shows what war does to people, how prejudices form and how some will take risks to help those who are persecuted. It shows that love crosses barriers. A really nice read that will stay with me.