Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside of the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II.  As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. 

This simple act takes Henry back to the 1940's, when his world was a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who was obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American.  While 'scholarshipping' at the exclusive Ranier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student.  Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship ' and innocent love- that transcends the long standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors.  After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end and their promises to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee, certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko, searches the hotel's dark, dusty basement for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long lost object he can't even begin to measure.  Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice: words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic  father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope.  In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Copies of this book may be available from the local libraries, or on Amazon. If you are interested in ordering a copy of this month's book, Hotel On The Corner of Bitter And Sweet by Jamie Ford, from Amazon, please contact Polly Clement before Monday, Feb 1 (when she will be ordering the books). 
 
Our discussion group will meet on Wednesday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the  home of Berkeley Meigs.  Please call her or email her to reserve a place in the group.  Cost is $3. at the  door for wine, coffee, snacks and dessert.