Bloomsbury 1995. Softcover, 402 pp.
In 1954 a fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat, and a local
Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. In the course of his
trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than one man's
guilt. For on San Piedro, memories grow as thickly as cedar trees and
the fields of ripe strawberries - memories of a charmed love affair
between a white boy and a Japanese girl; memories of land desired, paid
for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what
happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire
community was sent into exile while its neighbours watched.