Book Review

I recently read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, an account of a man, Henry, of Chinese descent who was a child at the time of WW2.  As an elderly man, Henry passes a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, boarded up for decades but now the centre of a mystery as the new owner discovers belongings of Japanese families, who had been rounded up and sent to internment camps.  One of the discoveries includes a parasol that Henry is convinced belonged to his friend Keiko.  Henry tells the story of his family and Keiko, the girl he loved and lost.

The book isn't as soppy as I've made it sound.  Right from the beginning I cared about Henry's story and I thoroughly recommend this book.