Synopses & Reviews
Salty Creek is a sleepy Georgia town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Strangers rarely enter their midst. When the mysterious Mr. Oto arrives in the spring of 1939, he immediately becomes the talk of the town.
A quiet, unassuming Japanese man with a secret history of his own, Mr. Oto meets Sophie soon after arriving in Salty Creek and immediately falls in love with her. Sophie, having lost her true love during World War I, spent her youth caring for her mother and maiden aunts. Now that they are gone, she has resigned herself to a lonely, passionless existence. That all begins to change as she finds herself drawn to Mr. Oto.
When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Mr. Oto's newfound life comes under siege and Sophie must decide how much she is willing to risk for a future with the man who has brought such joy into her life.
Sophie and the Rising Sun tells an unforgettable story of a time when the world lost its innocence-and of a town that finds its redemption in an extraordinary love.
Review
"A new voice from and for the South, as complex and resonant as the region itself." Anne Rivers Siddons
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"With a gentle hand and glass-clear prose, Trobaugh explores the villager's foibles, raciscm, and tension after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Her memoorable characters make this novel a fast and pleasurable read." The Baltimore Sun
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"Augusta Trobaugh has done it again: written a sweet, savage story about the South." Spartanburg Herald Journal
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"Set in a quiet Georgia coastal town...this sweet, old fashioned story is about the loving friendship that grows between a simple Japanese-American gardener and [an] unmarried Southern lady who lives down the street.... With a gentle hand and glass-clear prose, Trobaugh explores the villagers' foibles, racism and tension after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Her memorable characters make this novel a fast and pleasurable read."
The Sun (Baltimore)
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LOVELY. Trobaugh...streamlines her rich Southern style and creates a narrative as delicate as a line drawing.
USA Today
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"Augusta Trobaugh is an excellent storyteller who creates a narrator who feels as comfortable as our favorite easy chair. However, as easy as the story seems, we suddenly realize that we are in the midst of a powerful story."
The Sunday Oklahoman
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"Haunting.... Trobaugh fans have come to expect a thought-provoking read from her, and once again she meets the mark."
Christian Library Journal
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"Trobaugh...tells this poignant story with beautiful, yet appropriately subdued, prose, befitting its simplicity. It's a gem that lovers of Southern literature will relish."
Chattanooga Times and Free Press
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"Augusta Trobaugh has done it again: written a sweet, savage story about the South.... Thank you, Augusta Trobaugh, for proving that love, passion, redemption and compassion continue to flourish in Southern literature."
Spartansburg (South Carolina) Herald-Journal
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"Part Remains of the Day, part wartime drama.... Trobaugh...once again suggests the small but heartwarming triumphs made possible by human dignity and courage."
Publishers Weekly
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"Readers unfamiliar with the author will certainly experience the thrill of discovery, for Trobaugh's story of love lost and found in a small Georgia town sparkles with wonderful moments and expertly created characters."
Booklist
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"Poetic.... A beautiful and unusual love story."
Library Journal
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About the Author
Augusta Trobaugh, a semifinalist in the 1993 Pirates Alley Faulkner Competition, has written two previous novels, Praise Jerusalem! and Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb.