{"product_id":"when-mikan-road-was-ours","title":"When Mikan Road Was Ours","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Identity isn't a destination but a long, uneasy negotiation--especially for mixed-race people, where two selves can feel conjoined but not always in harmony. This novel lives in that tension, exploring what it means to be both in a family, and a world, that insists on either\/or. Deeply resonant, perfectly paced, and at times enraging, this is one of those books that isn't something for everyone, but everything to someone--and when you read it, it feels like that someone is you.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Jamie Ford, \n\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \n\u003ci\u003eHotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Many Daughters of Afong Moy\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A stirring novel of historical resonance. \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e sets readers on a century-long journey into the wounds and triumphs of a Japanese American family whose story reverberates long after the final pages. Written with remarkable empathy and tireless research, D.K. Furutani's debut presents an important and absorbing portrait with the highest stakes.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Thao Thai, bestselling author of \n\u003ci\u003eBanyan Moon\u003c\/i\u003e and \n\u003ci\u003eThe Seekers of Deer Creek\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"In chapters that alternate between the past and present, Furutani immerses readers in the worlds he creates with strong characterizations and sensitivity. Addressing issues such as family, racism, identity, gender roles, classism, and entitlement, Furutani's novel brings much to the table for book groups to discuss. As much of a strong work of historical fiction as a social commentary on the human race, this debut proves that Furutani is a writer to watch.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e -- \n\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review) \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"This elegant debut novel is sure to break your heart. Murano, a young mixed-race Japanese American teacher in South Pasadena, California, is floundering. The last thing he wants to do is to piece together his family's history, but the inheritance of a great-uncle's memoir forces him to mentally and emotionally transport himself to El Monte farmlands and the World War II diaspora that follows. \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e arrives at a time when the world needs to reconstruct torn pieces of the past to understand the present. A beautiful symphony of voices, conducted by an exciting new novelist.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Naomi Hirahara, author of Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning \n\u003ci\u003eClark and Division\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Captivating. . . vivid and authentic. . . . Furutani's skillfully written historical novel explores interdependence, belonging, and identity.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e -- \n\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A kaleidoscopic account of Japanese displacement and resilience, expertly weaving archival material with a nuanced contemporary struggle to find oneself inside of a silenced history. Absorbing, richly researched, and artfully constructed, \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e is a phenomenal debut.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, bestselling author of \n\u003ci\u003eEvery Drop is a Man's Nightmare\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"[An] immersive debut. . . . Furutani excels at breathing life into the historical period . . . a memorable family drama.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e -- \n\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A luminous meditation on memory, belonging, and a powerful reckoning with the stories we inherit, even the ones we choose to ignore. Profoundly intimate, this story asks what it means to truly claim your history, and in doing so, to finally claim the wholeness of yourself. Furutani delivers a timely novel about inheritance, identity, and courage, illuminating one of the most unjust and under-acknowledged chapters in U.S. history: the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans, and its lasting impact on what it means to belong.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Elba Iris Pérez, inaugural winner of the Books Like Us Contest, bestselling author of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Things We Didn't Know\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"I breathlessly read \n\u003ci\u003eWhen \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eMikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e, a beautifully woven tapestry of family, loss, grief, and careful archival research that takes on the important task of highlighting a moment in our country's shameful history--one that has come back to us, newly urgent. D.K. Furutani is a writer to watch.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of \n\u003ci\u003eSomebody's Daughter \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Evening Hero\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Honest and tender. In telling the story of one Japanese American family--set in an America throbbing with entitlement and people who stay silent in the face of injustice--Furutani has managed to conjure the terrifying reality of present-day America.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e --Ru Freeman, author of \n\u003ci\u003eBon Courage: Essays on Inheritance, Citizenship, and a Creative Life\u003c\/i\u003e and \n\u003ci\u003eOn Sal Mal Lane\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBorn and raised in Southern California, D.K. Furutani is the author of \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of Simon \u0026amp; Schuster's third-annual Books Like Us contest. His work has received support from the Periplus Collective and the Tin House workshops. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three cats.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eWinner of Simon \u0026amp; Schuster's Books Like Us contest, a gripping, sincere debut novel set across four generations of a Japanese American family living in California's vibrant agricultural heartlands, exploring the sharp edges of inheritance and what it means to truly belong.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAmid a sweltering Los Angeles heat wave, Murano, a reclusive high school English teacher, is muddling through life. Reeling from his father's sudden death as well as his own recent cancer diagnosis, he passes time hazily grading papers and appeasing disgruntled parents while counting down each day until summer vacation. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The monotony breaks when he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro's unpublished memoir. What Murano expects to be a grim reminder of his position as the half-white son of the family's outcast instead whisks him away to 1930s California, to a time when the Murano family was inseparable, relishing life together on their bucolic farm. As the memoir introduces him to relatives he never knew existed and unearths hidden complexities of the past, Murano is pulled close to the Japanese identity he's dismissed all of his life. Faced with the reality of his family's dissolution, Murano becomes determined to understand its breaking point following their incarceration in American concentration camps during World War II, no matter what hidden truths he might uncover about his ancestors or himself. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Lovingly crafted with poignant and profound attention to historical detail, \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours \u003c\/i\u003eis a rich meditation on belonging that seamlessly blends the intricacies of heritage, the resilience of family bonds, and the struggle to reconcile a past filled with both heartache and hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 pg. 82 (EAN 9781668086926, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/25\/2026 (EAN 9781668086926, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781668086926, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eFurutani, D K\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBorn and raised in Southern California, D.K. Furutani is the author of \n\u003ci\u003eWhen Mikan Road Was Ours\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of Simon \u0026amp; Schuster's third-annual Books Like Us contest. His work has received support from the Periplus Collective and the Tin House workshops. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three cats.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Atria Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496249065750,"sku":"9781668086926","price":34.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781668086926.jpg?v=1783058208","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/when-mikan-road-was-ours","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}