Tsubaki

Lori A. Dunn is a ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster, B.C.

This compelling novella is a story of grief on many different levels.

Upon discovering a confessional letter written by her mother Yukiko who
recently died, Namiko becomes caught up in the past. While the letter is
an emotional confession that reveals a terrible secret—Yukiko poisoned
her own father—it is also a snapshot of the real lives of people who
were in Nagasaki on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped at the end
of World War II. As the narrative unfolds, Namiko considers her
mother’s life in view of what she has learned against the backdrop of
the war, trying to understand why people act as they do.

Author Aki Shimazaki immigrated to Canada in 1981. Tsubaki is her first
novel. Though the story is very moving, it is difficult to implant
Shimazaki’s poetic but elusive prose in one’s memory. Nevertheless,
there are some powerful images like the blood-red flowers of the tsubaki
plant that fall from their branches, complete in themselves.