All We Left Behind
Chidori and Hayden, friends since childhood, begin to develop deeper feelings for each other and hope to marry someday. Unfortunately, their peaceful and innocent days on British Columbia’s Mayne Island start to change as the war in Europe rages. People of Japanese descent, like Chidori, are now viewed suspiciously by their formerly friendly neighbors. When Pearl Harbor is bombed, she and her family lose their home and most of their possessions and are forced into an internment camp. Enraged that he cannot help Chidori, Hayden wants to do his part to end the war and enlists in the air force. However, his time as a pilot is cut short when his plane is shot down, and he is sent to live in a German POW camp. Will their love survive the war, and if it does, will they be able to find each other again?
This book is a wonderful combination of a sweet and gentle love story and a well-researched historical novel. I’ve read several books about the atrocities Japanese Americans suffered in U.S. internment camps, but this is the first one I’ve read about the Canadian camps. Graham creates a detailed glimpse at what life was like for Japanese Canadians before and after the war. She also masterfully weaves in details about daily life in the POW camps that give a stark depiction of the despair and hopelessness soldiers like Hayden endured. The novel gets off to a slow start, but the well-developed characters help draw the reader in. The focus on young love will appeal to both adult and young adult readers.
