A Japanese family is living out the American dream in California until war breaks out between their homeland and their adopted country.  Forced to leave their lives behind, they head to the internment camp together before being released to start a new life in Chicago.  However, the death of the oldest daughter, who was released earlier than the rest of the family, haunts the youngest, who is determined to find out what happened to her in Chicago before the rest of the family arrived.

Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara, grabbed my attention not so much because of the subject matter but because of the setting.  While many of the businesses are no longer the same, the locations, streets, and neighborhoods ring true.  Whether it was walks on the beaches of Lake Michigan, to dances at the Aragon back when it was an actual ballroom, to the subway stop at the titular street corner, the locales of the work ring true of a Chicago gone by.  There is a second book in the series, which follows the characters back to California after the end of World War II, but I don’t know if I’m invested enough to go along for the ride.