About the Author

Akira Yoshimura is the prize-winning author of twenty novels and short-story collections, many of them bestsellers in Japan. One Man's Justice is his third novel to be translated into English.

Reviews

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
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Yoshimura follows One Man's Justice with another work of historical fiction. Here he brings us to the mid-1800s, where he tracks the real life of Hizoko, a Japanese boy orphaned by his mother at 13. When Hizoko follows in his stepfather's and stepbrother's footsteps and becomes a sailor, he is caught in a violent storm and shipwrecked. As a castaway, Hizoko is found and brought to America, where he is baptized as Joseph Heco. When he takes a difficult journey back to his homeland some nine years later, he experiences the loneliness of a man caught between two separate cultures who has to face the disappointment of not fitting into either one. Yoshimura narrates this story with great attention to detail. Hizoko's story has the potential to appeal to a wide cross section of readers; with its fluid prose and descriptions of Hizoko's life at sea, this work might be likened to the early portion of James Michener's Hawaii. A definite purchase for public and academic libraries already carrying titles by Yoshimura and a good choice for those libraries desiring to build up their historical or Asian fiction collections.-Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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
--