Requiem - Couverture souple

Bin Okuma, a celebrated visual artist, has quite suddenly lost his beloved wife, Lena. He and his son, Greg, are left to deal with the shock. But Greg must return to his studies on the East Coast, and Bin finds himself alone in ways he has never imagined. Trying to pull together an exhibition of his art, he is drawn into painful memories he has avoided for much of his life.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Bin’s Japanese Canadian family was uprooted from the west coast of Vancouver Island and transported to an internment camp in the mountains. They spent almost five years there, struggling against poverty and shame. Now, many years later, Bin drives across the country to revisit the places that have shaped him and to see his estranged father. But does he really want to reunite with the man who abandoned him and separated him from his mother? With the persuasive voice of his wife in his head and the echo of their love in his heart, Bin embarks on an unforgettable journey, one that encompasses art and music, love and hope, loss and redemption. 

Frances Itani has created a spellbinding novel of extraordinary beauty, an elegiac yet intimate story of a family caught in the arc of history. 

Bin Okuma, a celebrated visual artist, has recently and quite suddenly lost his wife, Lena. He and his son Greg are left to deal with the shock. But Greg has returned to his studies on the east coast, and Bin finds himself alone. His deep grief draws him into memories he has avoided for much of his life: the uprooting of his Japanese Canadian family from the west coast of British Columbia during the Second World War. Now, he sets out to drive across the country, to revisit the places that have shaped him, to find his First Father who has been lost to him. Years ago, his father made a fateful decision that severed the bonds of his family. Running from grief, Bin must ask himself whether he really wants to find his father or whether his bitterness will separate them forever.

Requiem is a stunning and graceful novel, a story of family secrets, racial strife, birth and death, and the saving grace of art.