Join Edgar Award–winning author, Naomi Hirahara, for a dive into the history of Little Tokyo through her newest book, Evergreen. Evergreen, the follow-up to the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning Clark and Division, is the story of a Japanese American nurse’s aide who navigates the dangers of post–World War II and post-Manzanar life as she attempts to find justice for a broken family. Hirahara’s presentation will include photographs from 1946 Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, and Burbank trailer parks. This event will include an optional self-guided tour of Little Tokyo landmarks featured in the book, with historian Robert Shoji and musician Gary Fukushima sharing outside the site of the historic Finale Club.
The JANM Book Club is a series of Public Programs that highlights new publications by Japanese Americans or related to Japanese American history and culture.
Evergreen is available to purchase at the JANM Store. A limited number of copies are signed. BUY NOW
Read an interview with Naomi Hirahara about the book on Discover Nikkei. READ NOW
Event image credit: Japanese American children in temporary post-war housing. Courtesy of the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections.
General: $16, Students/Seniors: $9, Members: FREE. Includes same-day general admission to JANM.
General: $10, Students/Seniors: $5, Members: FREE
About the book
It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released from Manzanar concentration camp and resettled in Chicago with other Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return home to California—but nothing is as they left it. The entire Japanese American community is starting from scratch, with thousands of people living in dismal refugee camps while they struggle to find new houses and jobs in over-crowded Los Angeles.
Aki is working as a nurse’s aide at the Japanese Hospital in Boyle Heights when an elderly Issei man is admitted with suspicious injuries. When she seeks out his son, she is shocked to recognize her husband’s best friend, Babe Watanabe. Could Babe be guilty of elder abuse?
Only a few days later, Little Tokyo is rocked by a murder at the low-income hotel where the Watanabes have been staying. When the cops start sniffing around Aki’s home, she begins to worry that the violence tearing through her community might threaten her family. What secrets have the Watanabes been hiding, and can Aki protect her husband from getting tangled up in a murder investigation?
JANM Members are invited to attend a Members Only Meet-and-Greet with Naomi Hirahara prior to the public program. You must RSVP separately for that program. RSVP NOW