The Japanese-Canadian story has never been told with such passion, insight and telling detail.

In this perfectly modulated novel, we see the emotional cost of suppression.'- The Washington Post 'Itani writes with a delicate grasp of both the obvious and the unspoken, using ordinary words charged with extraordinary meaning to produce a serious book that nevertheless invites you to keep reading past midnight.'- BookPage 'In Requiem, Frances Itani is at the height of her powers. Requiem delicately probes the complex adjustments we make to live with our sorrows. With his wife's persuasive voice in his head and the echo of their love in his heart, Bin embarks on an unforgettable journey into his past that will throw light on a dark time in history.Ī Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year 'Remarkable. Both running from grief and driving straight toward it, Bin must ask himself whether he truly wants to find First Father, the man who made a fateful decision that almost destroyed his family all those years ago. Fifty years later, after his wife's sudden death, Bin travels across the country to find the biological father who has been lost to him. One hundred miles from the Protected Zone,' they formed makeshift communities without direct access to electricity, plumbing or food-for five years. They were allowed to take only the possessions they could carry, and as a young boy Bin was forced to watch as neighbors raided their family home before the transport boats even undocked. In 1942 the government removed Bin Okuma's family from their home on British Columbia's west coast and forced them into internment camps.

By the Commonwealth Writer's Prize-winning author of Deafening comes a new historical novel that traces the lives of one Japanese-Canadian family during and after their internment in the 1940s.

Requiem book frances itani