Passage to Tokyo (Ancestor Memories Fantasy)
Set in Tokyo in 1923, 1995, and 2025, this New Adult historical fantasy novel will delight readers of historical fiction, time travel and romance.
In 1995, 22-year-old Yui is working in a convenience store and lives with her neglectful single mother and her 12-year-old brother Hiro. Yui is often left to care for Hiro and dreams of moving into her own apartment with her brother. During an outing to a summer festival, Hiro is separated from Yui. When she sees him at the foot of a statue, Yui goes there and discovers a tunnel that she suspects Hiro has entered. When Yui enters the tunnel, she is mysteriously transported to the same location in 1923.
Wandering around the city searching for Hiro, Yui meets and is befriended by a young woman named Chiyo who invites her to stay with her and her Korean-born mother and Japanese father. While looking for Hiro, Yui is also preoccupied with the knowledge that in just a few weeks the city will suffer the devastating real-life Great Kanto Earthquake. The earthquake does indeed take place, and Yui, Chiyo and Chiyo’s parents survive, but are left homeless. They travel to Chiyo’s grandparents’ home in another town and are reluctantly taken in by Chiyo’s grandmother. Amid this turmoil, Yui and Chiyo slowly fall in love.
Threads of history, romance and family bonds are brilliantly interwoven in this novel. Readers will feel as though they are witnessing history as Yui and Chiyo survey the devastation from the earthquake. Traveling back to 1923, especially after a natural disaster, pulls readers into a world of deprivation and scarcity. The traditional values in place prohibit Yui and Chiyo from openly expressing their love, and the societal prejudices against Koreans are poignantly rendered.
