The perfect book for the reader who wants a good love story with likable characters.  The central focus of Allende’s novel is Alma Belasco, who is forced to leave her family in Poland at the age of eight when Hitler comes to power.  She is sent to live with her wealthy relatives in San Francisco where she eventually falls in love with the gardener’s son.  Subplots include her lover’s life in an internment camp in Arizona, Alma’s caregiver’s troubled, secretive past, as well as a host of engaging characters residing at Lark House, a retirement home.

The Japanese Lover is a work of historical fiction that pursues themes of identity, displacement, exclusion and many types of love.