All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock

447 pages, Carver County

I actually had four copies checked out from the Carver County library simultaneously! Apparently, it was out of print so I got a bunch for book club readers. I actually read this a week ago (finishing it 15 minutes before the book club met!) and really enjoyed it.

The story centers around Augusta (Augie) Schuler and her friend Hatsune (Sunny) Yamagata. Augie's mom neglects her and her Uncle Finn is an angry man. When ChiChi and HaHa open their home to her, she thinks that being Japanese must be the best thing in the world. When Pearl Harbor is bombed, the Yamagata family is sent to Manzanar. Augie grows up isolating herself from others.

Twenty years later, she goes to Mississippi to interview Helen Fulton about the civil rights movement, only to discover her childhood friend. Surgically transformed to a white woman, Sunny welcomes Augie into her loving family once again.

The thing I liked best about this story was the overriding power of love. The hatred toward the Japanese during WWII and the hatred in the South during the 1960s were real and powerful, but this novel shows how love can overpower the hatred. The only part that was a bit too much of a "reach" for me was how quickly and easily they re-enter their friendship after twenty years of no contact. My favorite part was at the end when ChiChi and HaHa came to see Augie, their long-lost daughter (Musume).