A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton

Can you imagine as an elderly Japanese/American woman opening your door to find a young man standing before you saying that he is the grandson you lost in the bombing of Nagasaki years and years ago? This is the premise behind Jackie Copleton's brutal and honest story but it is just the first layer of the onion. The story goes back and forth between the first encounter at the door and back to the events in Japan leading up to the man's identity. Each chapter begins with a passage from a book designed to help others understand the Japanese culture which blends in smoothly to illustrate the difficult path that Amaterasu must take and follow her heart whether or not she will accept that this man is her beloved grandson, Hideo. There is so much raw emotion mixed with grace and dignity and the reader is left with the simple truth - are the sins of the mother, father and others left for the son to bear?