Asha Lemmie Knihy

From debut author Asha Lemmie comes a sweeping, heartrending coming-of-age novel set in post-World War II Japan. In Kyoto, 1948, eight-year-old Noriko "Nori" Kamiza learns to accept her harsh reality: abandoned by her mother with only a few words, confined to her grandparents' attic, and subjected to painful chemical baths to lighten her skin. As the biracial daughter of a Japanese aristocrat and an African American GI, Nori is an outsider from birth. Her grandparents, fearing a stain on their royal lineage, hide her away, and she obediently endures her solitary existence, despite her natural curiosity and intellect. Everything changes when her older half-brother Akira arrives at the estate, bringing hope and an unexpected bond that defies their grandparents' wishes. This connection awakens Nori's desire for acceptance and belonging in a world that seems to have no place for her. Determined to fight for her identity and place in society, Nori embarks on a journey that could cost her everything. Spanning decades and continents, this epic tale explores the ties that bind us, the strength found in connection, and the pursuit of freedom.

When tragedy forces Delphine Auber, an aspiring writer on the cusp of adulthood, from her home in postwar Paris, she seizes the opportunity to embark on the journey she's long dreamed of: finding the father she has never known. But her quest--spanning from Paris to New York's Harlem, to Havana and Key West--is complicated by the fact that she believes him to be famed luminary Ernest Hemingway, a man just as elusive as he is iconic.