Hi lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Karin Tanabe and her new book, “The Diplomat’s
Daughter”! For other stops on her
Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of
the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Karin
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
The Diplomat's Daughter
by Karin Tanabe
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GENRE: Historical Fiction
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BLURB:
Author
Karin Tanabe’s Japanese father was three years old when the firebombing of
Tokyo and Yokohama occurred in May of 1945—his very first memory was seeing his
city on fire and hearing the cries of babies on the shore, where they had been
carried for safety. While many Americans associate World War II with a parent
or grandparent who fought bravely in Europe, Karin’s understanding of the war
started with her father being attacked by American bombs.
These
memories, as well as those of a family friend whose own wife and family were
interned in a war relocation center, and additional friends who were born in
captivity, piqued Karin’s curiosity, and spurred her to write a love story born
out of one of the most unlikely places: a mixed-race internment camp. THE
DIPLOMAT’S DAUGHTER is a captivating and informed tale of three young people
divided by the horrors of World War II and their journey back to one another.
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EXCERPT ONE:
A
week later, Helene started to feel the baby kick. Christian was walking back
from his second day at the German school when he saw his mother approaching.
She had a smile on her face that belied her dismal surroundings. Christian had
planned to tell her how his German abilities did not extend to writing essays
in the language, but when he saw her happiness, he decided to delay the bad
news. Within just a few days of his arrival, he’d learned why he couldn’t
attend the American school. The elected spokesman for their side of the camp
was intensely pro-German
and
anyone who sent their children to the American-style Federal School was deemed
a traitor. There were whispers that one family’s food had been withheld for
several days because their daughter, who spoke no German, enrolled there.
“Put
your hand here,” Helene said when she’d reached Christian. She placed his right
hand on the top of her stomach. She was wearing the dress that was given to women
when they arrived, and Christian thought it made her look plain and homespun,
definitely more Mrs. Tomato Soup than Mrs. Country Club.
They
waited a few minutes, but nothing happened. Christian started to fidget, and
his mother laughed at him. “Do you have somewhere to be? Wait to feel the
baby.”
So
they waited. Mothers walked by them and smiled, teenagers coming out of school
slowed down and whispered, and finally, when Christian was about to pull his
hand away, embarrassed, the baby kicked.
“I
felt it!” he said, pressing his hand harder against his mother’s belly.
“I
told you it would be worth the wait,” said Helene, her voice full of delight.
Christian
thought of the tiny body inside his mother bursting with life. He imagined the
growing organs, the heartbeat, the developing brain and he felt sorry for it.
He wished it could be born far from loaded guns and barbed wire. At least it
would have love, he thought, looking at his mother’s joyful face.
Helene
kissed her son’s hand and walked off, letting him catch up to the other boys
who were making their way from the school to the German mess hall, where they
worked prepping the next day’s milk delivery. Internees in the camp woke up to
a bottle of fresh milk on their stoop every day, one of the measures that the
camp’s warden took to show that he was going well beyond the laws of the Geneva
Convention.
The
camp, it was whispered among the internees, was one President Roosevelt took
great pride in, and the guards didn’t want any suicides or fence jumpers to
ruin his vision. “They want happy prisoners,” his father had told him. “So just
remember, it could be much worse.”
For
Christian, sharing seven hundred square feet with another family and sleeping
on floors with scorpions did not make for a happy prisoner. The view of miles
of barbed-wire fencing him in did not help, either. The orphanage had changed
him—he felt it in his newfound patience. Even gentleness. The way he felt
toward Inge, had guarded her on the train, he was sure the old Christian would
not have been as kind. But it didn’t mean he was elated about his
circumstances.
Then
there was the camp’s segregation. In two days, Christian had learned how bad it
was. Though he had seen the large group of Japanese internees when he came in,
invisible lines kept them apart inside. The Germans and Japanese, despite being
allies in the war, occupied separate sections of the camp, ate in separate
facilities, worked different jobs, and played different sports. The only places
where they mixed were the hospital—as illness never discriminated—and the
swimming pool. The few Italians were sprinkled among the Germans, but they kept
to themselves, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Karin Tanabe is
the author of The Gilded Years, The Price of Inheritance, and The List. A
former Politico reporter, her writing has also appeared in the Miami Herald, Chicago
Tribune, Newsday, and The Washington Post. She has made frequent appearances as
a celebrity and politics expert on Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and The CBS
Early Show. A graduate of Vassar College, Karin lives in Washington, DC. To
learn more visit KarinTanabe.com and @KarinTanabe.
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CONNECT WITH
KARIN:
Website:
Email:
karin@karintanabe.com
Facebook:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
Instagram:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Books Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble:
Kobo:
Google Play:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Karin will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a
randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Karin ~ It is great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new awesome release and tour and I wish you the very best.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the excerpt!
ReplyDelete