Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sophie and the Rising Sun-Augusta Trobaugh

Sophie and the Rising Sun


Augusta Trobaugh

Bell Bridge, Oct 14 2011, $12.95

ISBN: 9781611940534



Miss Anne recalls what happened to Miss Sophie Willis over two decades ago back in 1939 in Salty Creek, Georgia although she admits she does not know how it ended only how it got to that point. Allegedly Miss Sophie’s true love died during WWI combat. After some supposed grief, Sophie apparently accepted her life as being a dry loneliness taking care of her mom and two aunts.



However, Miss Sophie and Miss Anne's fiftyish Japanese-American gardener Mr. Grover Cleveland Oto become friends as they enjoy spending Sunday morning painting in silence. As the pair falls in love, Pearl Harbor places the California born Mr. Oto in peril from local retaliation. Miss Anne and Miss Sophie hide Mr. Oto from the terror of the angry Salty Creek vigilantes.



This is an engaging historical thriller that focuses on the impact of war on people and relationships even thousands of miles from the front. The story line is character driven by the three above, Miss Sophie’s deceased family, and several other key players like Big Sally, Miss Ruth and Eulalie as they bring a sense of time and place to the strong WWII drama told by Miss Anne in the early 1960s.



Harriet Klausner



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