Gail Tsukiyama

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Louisiana

Bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama is known for her poignant, subtle insights into the most complicated of relationships. "Dreaming Water" is an exploration of two of the richest and most layered human connections that exist: mother and daughter and lifelong friends.
Hana is suffering from Werner's syndrome, a disease that makes a person age at twice the rate of a healthy individual: at thirty-eight Hana has the appearance of an eighty-year-old. Cate, her mother, is caring for her while struggling with her grief at losing her husband, Max, and with the knowledge that Hana's disease is getting worse by the day.
Hana and Cate's days are quiet and ordered. Cate escapes to her beloved garden and Hana reads and writes letters. Each find themselves drawn into their pasts, remembering the joyous and challenging events that have shaped them: spending the day at Max's favorite beach, overcoming their neighbors' prejudices that Max is Japanese-American and Cate is Italian-American, and coping with the heartbreak of discovering Hana's disease.
One of the great joys of Hana's life has been her relationship with her beautiful, successful best friend Laura. Laura has moved to New York from their hometown in California and has two daughters, Josephine and Camille. She has not been home in years and begs Hana to let her bring her daughters to meet her, feeling that Josephine, in particular, needs to have Hana in her life. Despite Hana's latest refusal, Laura decides to come anyway. When Laura's loud, energetic, and troubled world collides with Hana and Cate's daily routine, the story really begins.
"Dreaming Water "is about a mother's courage, a daughter's strength, and a friend's love. It is about the importance of human dignity and the importance of all the small moments that create a life worth living.


Dreaming Water

e826e2af-6a32-4e54-9c6f-4b1fb6602c03-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

South Carolina

Readers of Women of the Silk never forgot the moving, powerful story of Pei, brought to work in the silk house as a girl, grown into a quiet but determined young woman whose life is subject to cruel twists of fate, including the loss of her closest friend, Lin. Now we finally learn what happened to Pei, as she leaves the silk house for Hong Kong in the 1930s, arriving with a young orphan, Ji Shen, in her care. Her first job, in the home of a wealthy family, ends in disgrace, but soon Pei and Ji Shen find a new life in the home of Mrs. Finch, a British ex-patriate who welcomes them as the daughters she never had. Their idyllic life is interrupted, however, by war, and the Japanese occupation. Pei is once again forced to make her own way, struggling to survive and to keep her extended family alive as well. In this story of hardship and survival, Tsukiyama paints a portrait of women fighting the forces of war and time to make a life for themselves.

The Language of Threads

52219edf-9125-4620-b254-199772692262-1

Rhode Island

#paperback #tsukiyama #Japan #1939 #sumo #Noh

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Minnesota

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Oregon

It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold--and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.

8d4687b0-c454-4805-be7c-ca003aa99ee9-1

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Colorado

A Novel

PARADE's Best Books to Read this Summer

"A rich historical novel that illustrates why connection is more important and more vital than ever." -New York Times bestselling author Lisa See



Daniel Abe, a young doctor in Chicago, is finally coming back to Hawai'i. He has his own reason for returning to his childhood home, but it is not to revisit the past, unlike his Uncle Koji. Koji lives with the memories of Daniel's mother, Mariko, the love of his life, and the scars of a life hard-lived. He can't wait to see Daniel, who he's always thought of as a son, but he knows the time has come to tell him the truth about his mother, and his father. But Daniel's arrival coincides with the awakening of the Mauna Loa volcano, and its dangerous path toward their village stirs both new and long ago passions in their community.

Alternating between past and present--from the day of the volcano eruption in 1935 to decades prior--The Color of Air interweaves the stories of Daniel, Koji, and Mariko to create a rich, vibrant, bittersweet chorus that celebrates their lifelong bond to one other and to their immigrant community. As Mauna Loa threatens their lives and livelihoods, it also unearths long held secrets simmering below the surface that meld past and present, revealing a path forward for them all.



The Color of Air

8eb17b88-abb8-43c2-9ef9-fb7e4f940e48-1

Indiana

Nebraska

Shortly before World War II, a Chinese man, sent to Japan to recover from tuberculosis, meets a lovely Japanese girl and four older residents, in a story of passion and sacrifice

The Samurai's Garden

94a3dbdd-eb00-4f6a-bc8d-7184ad6ab8ed-1

Paperback. See pictures for detail. More pictures upon request. 

Wisconsin

In "Women of the Silk", Gail Tsukiyama takes her readers back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women form a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamour in a vast silk factory from dawn until dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's graceful prose weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of miraculous courage and strength.

Women of the Silk

595ca106-a4ba-4bdb-b3fb-2ffc9f98e875-1

Does have some writing on the inside cover. 

New York

California

Oklahoma

From the New York Times bestselling author of Women of the Silk and The Samurai's Garden comes a gorgeous and evocative historical novel about a Japanese-American family set against the backdrop of Hawai'i's sugar plantations. Daniel Abe, a young doctor in Chicago, is finally coming back to Hawai'i. He has his own reason for returning to his childhood home, but it is not to revisit the past, unlike his Uncle Koji. Koji lives with the memories of Daniel's mother, Mariko, the love of his life, and the scars of a life hard-lived. He can't wait to see Daniel, who he's always thought of as a son, but he knows the time has come to tell him the truth about his mother, and his father. But Daniel's arrival coincides with the awakening of the Mauna Loa volcano, and its dangerous path toward their village stirs both new and long ago passions in their community. Alternating between past and present--from the day of the volcano eruption in 1935 to decades prior--The Color of Air interweaves the stories of Daniel, Koji, and Mariko to create a rich, vibrant, bittersweet chorus that celebrates their lifelong bond to one other and to their immigrant community. As Mauna Loa threatens their lives and livelihoods, it also unearths long held secrets simmering below the surface that meld past and present, revealing a path forward for them all.

Ohio

Sent by her family to work in a silk factory just prior to World War II, young Pei grows to womanhood, working fifteen-hour days and sending her pay to the family who abandoned her

The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai's Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong--the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood. At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who own a laundry, Wong Liu and her older sister Lew Ying (Lulu) are taunted and bullied for their Chinese heritage. But while Lulu diligently obeys her parents and learns to speak Chinese, Wong Liu sneaks away to the local nickelodeons, buying a ticket with her lunch money and tips saved from laundry deliveries. By eleven Wong Liu is determined to become an actress and has already chosen a stage name: Anna May Wong. At sixteen, Anna May leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her Chinese traditional upbringing--a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences. After a series of nothing parts, nineteen-year-old Anna May gets her big break--and her first taste of Hollywood fame--starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad. Yet her beauty and talent isn't enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady while Caucasian actresses in yellowface" are given starring roles portraying Asian women. Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to win lead roles, accept risqué parts, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden--even as she finds freedom and glittering stardom abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe. Powerful, poignant, and imbued with Gail Tsukiyama's warmth and empathy, The Brightest Star reimagines the life of the first Asian American screen star whose legacy endures--a remarkable and inspiring woman who broke barriers and became a shining light in Hollywood history.

The Brightest Star

642222fd-f464-4e10-a6f4-5644c61afb0b-1

Montana

Florida

As World War II threatens their comfortable life in Hong Kong, young Joan and Emma Lew escape with their family to spend the war years in Macao. When they return home, Emma develops a deep interest in travel and sets her sights on an artistic life in San Francisco, while Joan turns to movies and thoughts of romance to escape the pressures of her real life. As the girls become women, each follows a path different from what her family expects. But through periods of great happiness and sorrow, the sisters learn that their complicated ties to each other--and to the other members of their close-knit family--are a source of strength as they pursue their separate dreams.

Night of Many Dreams

610f1174-2141-477a-91b9-24d54522ba10-1

Readers of women of the silk never forgot the movie story of PEI brought to work in the silk house as a young girl. Now we will learn what happened to her as she arrived in 1930s Hong Kong with a young orphan in her care.

Browse by categories

Save this search

Gail Tsukiyama

Dreaming Water

Gail Tsukiyama

Dreaming Water

Gail Tsukiyama

The Language of Threads

Gail Tsukiyama

Dreaming Water

Gail Tsukiyama

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Gail Tsukiyama

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Gail Tsukiyama

The Language of Threads

Gail Tsukiyama

The Color of Air

Gail Tsukiyama

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Gail Tsukiyama

The Samurai's Garden

Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk

Gail Tsukiyama

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Gail Tsukiyama

The Language of Threads

Gail Tsukiyama

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Gail Tsukiyama

The Color of Air

Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk

Gail Tsukiyama

The Brightest Star

Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk

Gail Tsukiyama

Night of Many Dreams

Gail Tsukiyama

The Language of Threads

Gail Tsukiyama

The Language of Threads

Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk

Gail Tsukiyama

Women of the Silk

Gail Tsukiyama

Night of Many Dreams