Historical Fiction- World War 11 Japanese-American Incarceration Camps

Over 127,000 United States citizens were imprisoned during World War 11. Their crime? Being of Japanese heritage. Even though there wasn't any actual evidence, Japanese-Americans were suspected of remaining loyal to their ancestral land. On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order ordering the relocation of all Americans of Japanese heritage to concentration camps. While the American concentration camps never reached the levels of Nazi death camps as far as atrocities are concerned, they remain a dark mark on the nation's record of respecting civil liberties and cultural differences. Check out one of these historical fiction novels based on a little talked about historical fact.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
A story told from five different points of view, accounts the experiences of Japanese-Americans caught up in the nightmare of the World War 11 internment camps. (2002)

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
Irina is a young Moldavian immigrant with a troubled past. She works at an assisted living home where she meets, Alma, a Holocaust survivor. Alma falls in love Ichi, a young Japanese gardener, who survived Topaz, the Japanese internment camp.  Despite man's cruelty to one another, art, beauty and love prevail.  (2015)

Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield
After bombs stream down on Pearl Harbor, 14-year old Lucy Takeda and her mother, Miyako, are rounded up--along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans and taken to the Manzanar prison camp where they endure abuse and harsh living conditions until Miyako makes the ultimate sacrifice. (2013)

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris
Violinist Maddie elopes with Lane Moritomo, the motivated son of Japanese immigrants, but after Pearl Harbor is bombed by the Japanese, Lane is seen as the enemy and Maddie must sacrifice her Julliard ambitions when he is interned at a war relocation camp. (2012)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
When relics from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War 11 are uncovered during restorations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a mission that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment. (2009)

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
Her life turned upside-down when a Japanese internment camp is opened in their small Colorado town, Rennie witnesses the way her community places doubt on the newcomers when a young girl is murdered. (2007)

Color of the Sea by John Hamamura
Separated from his Japanese-American family and girlfriend by the internment practices of World War 11, martial arts master Sam Hamada is conscripted by the U.S. Army for a secret mission in Japan, where he finds himself torn between cultures. (2006)

Silent Honor by Danielle Steel
A Japanese girl living with her uncle in California to attend college, Hiroko becomes caught up in the horrors of World War 11 after the bombing of Pearl harbor when she and her uncle's family are forced into an internment camp with other Japanese-Americans. (1996)