THE TRANSLATION OF LOVE

The much anticipated debut novel from two-time Journey Prize nominee and a 2014 Knopf Canada New Face of Fiction, Lynne Kutsukake. A beautifully told and riveting story about friendship and love translated across cultures and borders, about secrets and dreams, about identity and the search for home, and the surprise of finding yourself where you least expected.
Reminiscent of Amy Tan, Mary Ann Shaffer and Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being.

In 1947 Tokyo, during the tumultuous period of the American Occupation, Fumi is searching for her long-disappeared sister amidst the seedy underbelly of Ginza bars while Aya, having been forcibly repatriated to Japan from an internment camp in Canada, is desperate for friendship in a strange place. Citizens of Japan were encouraged to write to General MacArthur, and write they did. MacArthur received over 500,000 letters, let-ters of entreaty, rage, gratitude, complaint, even adoration. Using that kernel of truth, Lynne Kutsukake has invented the character of twelve-year-old Fumi Tanaka. Fumi's older sister Sumiko has disappeared into the world of Ginza bars, and Fumi is determined to find her. She enlists the help of her new classmate Aya, forcibly repatriated from Canada after the war, to write to MacArthur for help. The letter is delivered into the reluctant hands of Corporal Matt Matsumoto, a Japanese-American serving with the Occupation forces, whose endless job is translating the letters. Frustrated with Matt's progress, the girls take matters into their own hands, venturing into the dark and dangerous world of the black market and dancehalls. They're unaware that their teacher, Kondo Sensei, moonlights as a translator of love letters, and that he holds the key to Sumiko's safe return. The Translation of Love is a rivetting novel about friendship and love translated across cultures and borders. It's a story of secrets and dreams, identity and the search for home, and finding yourself where you least expected to. Each of these characters takes an unexpected personal journey, and represents a different role in this little-examined moment in history. A rich and rewarding read "Reminiscent of Joy Kogawa's classic, Obasan, and Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being. LYNNE KUTSUKAKE was a finalist for the Journey Prize in 2010 for “Mating,” and a nominee in 2009 for “Away.” Her short fiction has appeared in The Dalhousie Review, Grain, The Windsor Review, Ricepaper, and Prairie Fire. A third generation Japanese Canadian, she worked for many years as a librarian at the University of Toronto, specializing in Japanese materials. She lives in Toronto.