Why she left us

"Why She Left Us weaves in and out of the personal tragedies and political persecution of three generations of a Japanese American family and exposes the complex, often destructive bonds of love and honor that tie a family together."--BOOK JACKET. "At the center of the story is Emi Okada, a young girl who finds herself pregnant and alone on the eve of World War II. She gives up her firstborn, Eric, for adoption, but her mother finds the boy and brings him home, intent on raising him as part of the Okada family. This crucial event becomes a turning point in the story as it dramatically alters the lives of Emi's parents, siblings, and, later her children. Betrayals and secrets tear apart a family that is already struggling with assimilation, intergenerational conflict, and war."--BOOK JACKET. "Narrated in turn by Emi's two children, Eric and Mariko, her mother, Kaori, and her brother Jack, Why She Left Us crisscrosses the century - from Japanese picture brides and migrant farm workers to internment of Japanese Americans in the Colorado desert to contemporary Los Angeles and Hawaii, where Emi's two children have settled as adults. When fifty years after the war, Mariko applies for reparations from the American government for the family's losses during their internment, she stumbles upon more than one family secret. As she tries to unravel the mystery that shrouds the events of the past, and to find her lost brother, Eric, Mariko must come to terms with her complicity and her own secrets, as well as her feelings of guilt for being the child Emi chose to keep."--BOOK JACKET.