Silent Honor

November 4, 1996
The doyenne of bestseller lists weaves another romantic story in her 38th novel, a tale of separated families and shattered lives set against one of the most morally reprehensible events in U.S. history: the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW II. In 1941, 18-year-old Hiroko Takashimaya, the beautiful, painfully shy daughter of a modern-thinking professor and a tradition-bound mother, is sent from her home in Kyoto to live in California with her American cousins and attend a prestigious women's college. Terribly homesick yet determined to make her parents proud, dutiful Hiroko begins to adjust to her new life and even does the unthinkable when she falls in love with Peter Jenkins, a handsome American professor. The joys of Peter's love painfully contrast with the humiliation Hiroko suffers at the hands of her racially prejudiced school mates, but worse is to come when war breaks out and Hiroko and her cousins are sent to segregated camps. Separated from Peter, now a soldier fighting in Europe, Hiroko sheds her sheltered, girlhood innocence and evolves into a strong, independent woman. Steel's slapdash prose and stereotypical characterization produce a formulaic tale, albeit more earnest and didactic than her usual fare, but she does succeed in telling a poignant story. Major ad/promo; simultaneous BDD audio.

August 1, 1996
Steel's latest, a departure of sorts, tells of a young, resilient Japanese woman who is confined to an American internment camp during World War II.

December 1, 1996
At 18, Hiroko faces an unfamiliar culture and racial prejudice when she arrives to attend college in America. Her American cousins and Peter, their Caucasian friend, help her adapt to her new life, but nothing can prepare them for what follows the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly viewed as enemies, Japanese residents and even U.S. citizens of Japanese descent are deprived of jobs, property, and freedom and sent to internment camps. Secretly married to Peter before he enters the army, Hiroko endures many hardships and losses in the camps. Believing Peter to be missing in action, she returns to Japan after the war only to discover that her entire family has perished. At this bleakest moment in her life, Peter reappears, providing the promise of a happy future. Although it may be predictable, this novel is a reminder of a shameful episode in American history that should not be forgotten. Steel's (Wings, LJ 10/15/94) reputation will ensure demand. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/96.]--Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany

October 15, 1996
In her unspoken bid to unseat Stephen King as the world's most prolific writer, Steel has released her thirty-eighth novel, the story of Hiroko Takashimaya, a young Japanese woman sent by her family in August 1941 to attend college in California and live with distant relatives. Hiroko is shy, demure, and (surprise!) stunningly beautiful, and after initial culture shock, she settles in with her new American family and falls in love with Caucasian college instructor Peter. Soon after she arrives in California, however, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and Hiroko and her family are incarcerated along with the rest of the Japanese population of California. At the same time, Peter goes off to fight for the U.S., and Hiroko gives birth to their illegitimate child in the internment camp. After the war, with her family torn asunder and Peter missing in action, Hiroko makes her way back to Japan to search--unsuccessfully--for her mother and father, but she is reunited with her lost love, Peter. Fans of Steel's previous offerings will appreciate the classic story line. ((Reviewed October 15, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)