Fifty Words for Rain: A Novel

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About Fifty Words For Rain: A Novel

Product Description A Good Morning America Book Club Pick and New York Times Bestseller!   From debut author Asha Lemmie, “a lovely, heartrending story about love and loss, prejudice and pain, and the sometimes dangerous, always durable ties that link a family together.” —Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The NightingaleKyoto, Japan, 1948. “Do not question. Do not fight. Do not resist.”Such is eight-year-old Noriko “Nori” Kamiza’s first lesson. She will not question why her mother abandoned her with only these final words. She will not fight her confinement to the attic of her grandparents’ imperial estate. And she will not resist the scalding chemical baths she receives daily to lighten her skin.The child of a married Japanese aristocrat and her African American GI lover, Nori is an outsider from birth. Her grandparents take her in, only to conceal her, fearful of a stain on the royal pedigree that they are desperate to uphold in a changing Japan. Obedient to a fault, Nori accepts her solitary life, despite her natural intellect and curiosity. But when chance brings her older half-brother, Akira, to the estate that is his inheritance and destiny, Nori finds in him an unlikely ally with whom she forms a powerful bond—a bond their formidable grandparents cannot allow and that will irrevocably change the lives they were always meant to lead. Because now that Nori has glimpsed a world in which perhaps there is a place for her after all, she is ready to fight to be a part of it—a battle that just might cost her everything.Spanning decades and continents, Fifty Words for Rain is a dazzling epic about the ties that bind, the ties that give you strength, and what it means to be free. Amazon.com Review An Amazon Best Book of September 2020: Set in post WWII Japan, Fifty Words for Rain follows Noriko Kamiza, the love child of her married, aristocratic mother and an African American soldier. Left with her scandalized grandparents and kept out of sight in an attic, “Nori” succumbs to her sorry lot—which involves beatings and excruciating chemical baths to lighten her skin—until the unexpected arrival of her half-brother. Akira manages to crack Nori’s world open just enough to give her hope, triggering a nail-biting chain of events as her grandparents conspire to close it yet again. Depressing much? Actually no. You will root for Nori, her resilient spirit, and her determination to assert her own identity and live life on her own terms. Asha Lemmie has written a rousing and addictive debut you won’t want to miss. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review Review Praise for Asha Lemmie and Fifty Words for Rain“Novels like Asha Lemmie’s debut allow me to experience the high of the endurance athlete—consumed by a far-flung odyssey, coming up only for a sip of water. . . . I inhaled Fifty Words for Rain in one day. I had no choice.” —The New York Times Book Review“Usually I take my time with books, but I found it very hard to step away from this story. Filled with mystery, music, sadness, and adventures, Fifty Words for Rain flies by—yet lingers long after. . . . Anyone who has ever lost a friend—or, more happily, found a family—will love this beautiful story.” —Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize–winning activist  "Fifty Words for Rain is a lovely, heartrending story about love and loss, prejudice and pain, and the sometimes dangerous, always durable ties that link a family together. This coming-of-age tale about a biracial girl in postwar Japan is an assured, confident debut by a talented new author." —Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Nightingale “A hugely compelling debut about Noriko, a mixed race girl growing up in Japan after WWII. Moving and honest and at times intense, Asha Lemmie takes us on an emotional journey that spans years, one which sheds light on Noriko's family traditions, prejudices, struggles, triumphs, and ultimate transformation. This is a well-researched a