Storm Rider - by Akira Yoshimura (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Based on real characters and events, Storm Rider is a vivid historical portrait of Japan and America in the mid-nineteenth century, as well as an exciting high-seas adventure and a moving story of a man lost between two cultures.

At the age of thirteen, Hikotaro is orphaned and left to a life at sea. When the merchant vessel he sails on is caught in a violent storm on the Pacific, an American ship comes to the rescue and takes the young boy to San Francisco. With trepidation and hope, the boy-now dubbed Hikozo-accepts his new country. Still, he dreams of returning to Japan, but shogunate policy forbids reentry to Japanese who have been abroad. He tries anyway, only to be refused and returned to America, where a wealthy American adopts Hikozo and introduces him to a world of influence and power. Some ten years later, Hikozo returns to a Japan stirred into violence by the opening of the country. At the same time, America is in the midst of its bloody Civil War, and Hikozo finds that there is no place he can call home.

From the Back Cover

Based on real events, the moving story of a man lost between two cultures.
Orphaned at the age of thirteen, Hikotaro resigns himself to a life at sea. But when the merchant vessel he sails on is caught in a violent storm, he is taken to San Francisco by American rescuers. Made an outcast by the shogunate policy forbidding reentry to Japanese who have been abroad, Hikotaro accepts his new country with trepidation and hope. Still, he dreams of returning to his native land. Yet when he finally does, he realizes that there is now no place he can call home.
PRAISE FOR SHIPWRECKS
"Haunting and austerely beautiful."--The New York Times
"Extraordinary in detail and verisimilitude . . . a haunting read."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
PRAISE FOR ON PAROLE
"An austerely graceful book, which should help cement Yoshimura's reputation here and bring over more of his twenty bestselling novels in its wake."--The Washington Post Book World
"A neat novel . . . There's nothing picturesque about the story, and it's a measure of Yoshimura's mastery that we're still disturbed and fascinated."--The New York Times Book Review
PRAISE FOR ONE MAN'S JUSTICE
"[Yoshimura is] a writer of great psychological acuteness . . . One Man's Justice is a provocative exploration of the effects of war on the human soul."--San Jose Mercury News
"Gripping, remarkable. . . . A deft, accurate writer, Yoshimura captures a man in limbo with unnerving insight and definition."--The Christian Science Monitor
Akira Yoshimura is the prizewinning author of twenty novels and short-story collections, many of them bestsellers in Japan. He is president of Japan's writers' union and a member of PEN International. Storm Rider is the fourth of his novels to be translated into English. Yoshimura lives in Tokyo.

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR SHIPWRECKS

"Haunting and austerely beautiful . . .Makes you wonder why it took

so long for an American publisher to discover him."--THE NEW YORK TIMES