Age of Blossoms is a Rashomon-like literary historical novel about the Japanese population that thrived on Mayne Island, British Columbia, from the early 1900s until their expulsion in 1942. The story, structured around the wild landscape of the Pacific Northwest, chronicles the thwarted romance between a Canadian girl and her Nisei friend. Age of Blossoms is a love story, a ghost story, and a tale of interracial and class tensions that reflects on how different cultures see and hear the natural world. It draws on historical records, canonical Japanese poetry, and fairy tales to show how the past is never truly past. With mass deportations going on in the United States, this story of one community’s betrayal is, unfortunately, a timely warning.

The first chapter was published as a short story titled “Koro-Koro” in the Spring 2025 issue of Ploughshares

Entrance to the Japanese Memorial Gardens amid the Douglas firs on Mayne Island, British Columbia

The gardens in September

Map showing the location of the Japanese families on Mayne Island prior to their internment