Jamie Ford Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Songs of Willow Frost | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Love and Other Consolation Prizes | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Anthologies
Jamie Ford is an American author of fiction. He is the great-grandson of Min Chung, a mining pioneer in Nevada who emigrated in 1865 to San Francisco from China. There he adopted the name of Ford to be more western, and endless generations were confused and confused others as a result of this choice. (His grandfather wanted to be modern and blend in and become a part of American culture, something countless other immigrants did at the time as well).
His first novel was a New York Times bestseller and also was awarded the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in 2010. The book has since been translated into multiple languages for readers to enjoy around the world. Ford grew up near Chinatown in Seattle and currently resides in Montana along with his wife and children. He has written several novels and is also widely known to have written the novella Middle, Lost, and Found, published in 2013.
The main character in Ford’s debut novel is named Henry Lee who has an interesting past at a unique time in America’s history while it was still unfolding. When he chances on a crowd that has collected just outside the Panama Hotel, he looks on. It is the former entryway to Japantown in Seattle and had been boarded for decades. So when the owner discovers the belongings of Japanese families that had been abandoned when they were sent to internment camps after being rounded up during World War II and opens a parasol, Henry all of a sudden has a flashback to days that have long since gone past.
Henry remembers back to the forties when the war was in full swing. The world for a young Henry was confusion and excitement. His father was obsessed with having his son grow up American and also with the war in China. When he is at the Rainier Elementary on scholarship, Henry finds that the white kids do not pay him any attention. He does make a friend in Keiko, however.
Keiko Okabe is a Japanese-American girl who is also a student at this school. They form a bond amid a chaotic time that involves F.B.I. raids, blackouts, and curfews. The two have a friendship that goes deeper than any prejudices or ostracism ever could, and they have a relationship where they are there for each other. When she and her family are rounded up and evacuated to internment camps due to her nationality, the pair is split up.
Henry and Keiko can only hope that when the war ends the promise they made to each other will be fulfilled. Now, forty years later, Henry is convinced that the parasol being opened by the parlor owner is the same that Keiko had. Henry begins to look in the dark basement of the hotel for anything that might belong to the Okabe family. He is also looking for something that was lost long ago that would mean more to him than anything.
Still, a lot has changed in the past four decades. Henry got married and now is a widower with a Chinese-American son of his own to raise. He has to deal with all of the events that have unfolded in his life and come to grips with the past now in the present moment. With so much of history behind him, this novel is a sad and enchanting story that will have you invested in every word. Pick it up for yourself to find out what happens for Henry and what ultimately became of Keiko after all these years.
The second novel from Jamie Ford is the New York Times bestselling novel, Songs of Willow Frost. Bookreporter says that this ‘remarkable’ novel will likely appeal to readers who enjoy Amy Tan’s multi-generational novels. This story is set in Seattle during the Depression. It is the story of a woman running from the past and a boy that dreams of the future. He is William Eng, a boy of Chinese-American status that is twelve years old. Ever since the passing of his mother and her removal from the apartment half a decade ago, he has resided at the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Seattle.
The nuns have picked a day that is his birthday and on that day he gets taken to the Moore Theatre with the other orphans. There they get to see the actress Willow Frost on the screen, and he is taken aback by her. He thinks that she must be his mother, the real Liu Song. So he escapes from the church with his friend Charlotte to find Willow and confirm that his mother is alive. Together they roam Seattle in search of his mother.
Together they must confront the past that William has as well as the film star’s true identity. Is she William’s mother? And is Willow Frost’s story also more than they can handle? This twenties novel will have you feeling like you lived on the west coast during the Depression as you follow these two children around the city. Heartfelt and emotional, this uniquely penned book takes the reader on a powerful journey in the search for family and home.
Jamie Ford brings this world to life as William and Charlotte try desperately to unravel a mystery that is largely wrought out of the longing in William’s heart to see his mother again. Is he so desperate to see her again that he conjures her up on the silver screen and sees her in the eyes of a Hollywood actress? Driven by an innocent and heartbreaking desire to get back the love that he remembers, William will risk anything in order to try and see her again and get back the life he once had. A testament to love, the heart, and the human spirit, Ford has created a masterpiece in this beautiful novel that is all about primal bonds and the memories of those we love.
Check it out by looking online or at your local bookstore and see just why this second debut book from Jamie Ford is such an engaging novel and a bestseller for yourself.
Book Series In Order » Authors »