“Thrilling…Builds to a pulse-pounding climax. The result is the most imaginative take on
Hiroshima since Edwin Corley’s The Jesus Factor .” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A
riveting tale about war intrigue love and perseverance.” —John Grisham • “I could not look
away. This novel is storytelling at its finest.” —Karl Marlantes • “Spellbinding…A breathtaking
chain reaction that unleashes the true power of the novel.” —Adam Johnson • “Extraordinary…
Daikon will sweep you away.” —Jess Walter • “Exhilarating…I loved this book and you will love
it too.” —Arthur Golden A sweeping and suspenseful novel of love and war set in Japan
during the final days of World War II with a shocking historical premise: three atomic bombs
were actually delivered to the Pacific—not two—and when one of them falls into the hands of the
Japanese the fate of a couple that has been separated from one another becomes entangled with
the fate of this terrifying new device. War has taken everything from physicist Keizo Kan.
His young daughter was killed in the Great Tokyo Air Raid and now his Japanese American wife
Noriko has been imprisoned by the brutal Thought Police. An American bomber downed over Japan
on the first day of August 1945 offers the scientist a surprising chance at salvation. The
Imperial Army dispatches him to examine an unusual device recovered from the plane’s wreckage—a
bomb containing uranium—and tells him that if he can unlock its mysteries his wife will be
released. Working in secrecy under crushing pressure Kan begins to disassemble the bomb and
study its components. One of his assistants falls ill after mishandling the uranium but his
alarming deterioration and Kan’s own symptoms are ignored by the commanding officer demanding
results. Desperate to stave off Japan’s surrender to the Allies the army will stop at nothing
to harness the weapon’s unimaginable power. They order Kan to prepare the bomb for manual
detonation over a target—a suicide mission that will strike a devastating blow against the
Americans. Kan is soon confronted with a series of agonizing decisions that will test his
courage his loyalty and his very humanity. An extraordinary debut novel that is the result
of twenty-seven years of work by its author Daikon is a gripping and powerfully moving saga
that calls to mind such classics as Cold Mountain . It is set amid the chaos and despair of the
world’s third largest city lying in ruins its population starving and its leadership under
escalating assault from without and within. Here is a haunting epic of love survival and
impossible choices that introduces a singular new voice on the literary landscape.
