Bridge of Scarlet Leaves

January 9, 2012
McMorris’s second novel (after Letters from Home), portraying the intertwined fates of two American families in Southern California during WWII, gracefully blossoms through swift prose and rich characters. Maddie Kern, talented violinist and Juilliard hopeful, has only her older brother, TJ, to rely on after their mother’s untimely death and their father’s hospitalization. Because of this, she keeps her relationship with TJ’s best friend, “Lane” Moritomo, hidden until the two decide to elope. Their marriage is cut short by the attack on Pearl Harbor, a day with major repercussions for the Kerns and the Moritomos. Divided by racism and faced with the “exodus of an entire race,” Lane must choose between his American future with Maddie and the history and honor of his Japanese family, while TJ searches for purpose in his life by enlisting. Maddie stands to lose everything if she does nothing, and in her courageous choices and sacrifices, McMorris delivers suspense and compassion. She draws eloquently on language—Japanese proverbs, the measurements of music, the jargon of war and baseball—to illustrate her insights into human nature. Though the prose is too often hackneyed, this gripping story about two “brothers” in arms and a young woman caught in between them hits all the right chords. Agent: Jennifer Schober, Spencerhill Associates.

February 15, 2012
McMorris continues to explore the themes of love and war in this tale about commitment, passion, prejudice and heroism set against the backdrop of World War II. Maddie used to tag along behind big brother TJ and his buddy, Lane Moritomo, but as the aspiring violinist matured, she and Lane discovered they were much more than friends. Lane, whose stiff and formal Japanese mother and banker father have announced plans to marry their son to a Japanese bride, knows that if he wants to marry Maddie the time is now. But it is December 1941, and interracial marriage is not legal in California. Nineteen-year-old Maddie and Lane must go to neighboring Washington State to wed before Lane returns for his final semester of college. The morning after their wedding the unthinkable happens when the Japanese nation attacks the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, plunging the nation into war and launching an unrelenting hatred directed toward the thousands of Japanese-Americans who live in the U.S. Packed off to a relocation camp after his father's detention, Lane urges Maddie to divorce him, but she's unwilling to let go of the man she loves and decides, instead, to join him there. Fighting dehumanizing conditions, TJ's disapproval and her mother-in-law's aloofness, Maddie follows her husband's family, setting the stage for a sweeping story of two families in wartime America and the paths they take while the world is up-in-arms. McMorris, who is of Japanese-American heritage, creates a believable world, taking readers from the camps to the Pacific Theater during the height of the war and into the heart of the Midwest, all while perfectly capturing the flavor of the period.A sweeping yet intimate novel that will please both romantics and lovers of American history.

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