At The Foot of the Cherry Tree
Alli Parker
I needed a book to finish a challenge and decided to read this one and what can I say this debut by Alli Parker is brilliant I could barely put it down, a beautifully told story based on the author’s grandparents this one takes us back to Japan as World War Two has just ended and young Aussie soldier Gordon Parker goes to be part of the occupation force and meets young Nobuko ‘Cherry’ Sakuramoto falling in love starts what appears to be never-ending battle to be together.
Gordon Parker lives in regional Victoria and has turned eighteen and his parents have just let him sign up to fight in the war but just as his training ends so does the war but Gordon is happy to go to Japan and do what he can, he is based close to Hiroshima and is part of the medic team the first rule is no fraternisations with the Japanese but he meets one of the house maids a sixteen year old young girl and soon they are falling in love.
Nobuko (Cherry) has been through so much in her short life living in Hiroshima she was there that dreadful day the bomb was dropped she lost her mother but managed to get away she is living with her father and uncle in a shack at Kure and has a close friend she calls aunty but her job at the BCOF base is all the money they receive but when she makes friends with the young Aussie soldier it soon becomes more than friends.
Their love grows against many challenges and they secretly marry the years are flying by and they are up against the military police and the rules but when Gordon is sent home he swears to get Cherry to Australia very soon but what he finds is a brick wall built by the Australian Government and their White Australia Policy, he never gives up fighting travelling back to Japan twice to meet his daughters but he will never give up on getting his family to Australia, never.
I loved this story it is heart-wrenching but beautiful to see the love that flows through so many road blocks, it is one that I do highly recommend a truly beautiful true story. Don’t miss this one.
Gordon Parker lives in regional Victoria and has turned eighteen and his parents have just let him sign up to fight in the war but just as his training ends so does the war but Gordon is happy to go to Japan and do what he can, he is based close to Hiroshima and is part of the medic team the first rule is no fraternisations with the Japanese but he meets one of the house maids a sixteen year old young girl and soon they are falling in love.
Nobuko (Cherry) has been through so much in her short life living in Hiroshima she was there that dreadful day the bomb was dropped she lost her mother but managed to get away she is living with her father and uncle in a shack at Kure and has a close friend she calls aunty but her job at the BCOF base is all the money they receive but when she makes friends with the young Aussie soldier it soon becomes more than friends.
Their love grows against many challenges and they secretly marry the years are flying by and they are up against the military police and the rules but when Gordon is sent home he swears to get Cherry to Australia very soon but what he finds is a brick wall built by the Australian Government and their White Australia Policy, he never gives up fighting travelling back to Japan twice to meet his daughters but he will never give up on getting his family to Australia, never.
I loved this story it is heart-wrenching but beautiful to see the love that flows through so many road blocks, it is one that I do highly recommend a truly beautiful true story. Don’t miss this one.
5 stars
August 2, 2023 by HarperCollins
