Clark And Division

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A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021 Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara's eye-opening and poignant new mystery,the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II. Chicago, 1944- Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki's older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family's reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train. Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose's death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth. Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.

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Praise for Clark and Division

Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award
Winner of The Lefty Award for Best Historical Novel
Nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel
An Anthony Award Nominee for Best Novel
Reader's Digest 60 Best Books Written for Women by Female Authors
A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021
A Parade Magazine 101 Best Mystery Books of All Time
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
A Washington Post Best Mystery and Thriller of 2021
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Mystery Novel of 2021
A Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Best Book of 2021
Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2021
Amazon Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2021
A CrimeReads Best Crime Novel of 2021
New York Public Library Best Books of 2021
A BookPage Best Mystery & Thriller of 2021
An ABA Indie Next Pick
2021 ABA Indie Next List Genre Gift Guide
An Amazon Best of the Month for Mystery/Thriller
An Apple Best Books of the Month
Bustle's Most Anticipated Books

Searing . . . This is as much a crime novel as it is a family and societal tragedy, filtering one of the cruelest examples of American prejudice through the prism of one young woman determined to assert her independence, whatever the cost.
Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review

Just as only James Ellroy could have written the Los Angeles Quartet and only Walter Mosley could have crafted Black Angelenos experiences into the Easy Rawlins mysteries, crime novelist and research maven Naomi Hirahara was destined to write Clark and Division . . . The vibrant characters, the history and the aura of determined optimism that permeate the novel make it feel like the beginning of a saga not unlike Jacqueline Winspears Maisie Dobbs mysteries.
Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times

Hirahara has drawn a devastating picture of a family in crisis and a nations monumental blunder.
The Washington Post

Engrossing . . . The best historical fiction shows how events affected the people who lived that era. Hiraharas Clark and Division ranks high.
Oline Cogdil, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A novel Naomi Hirahara was destined to write . . . Hirahara gives us a rich and vibrant portrayal of Nisei life in multicultural Chicago: the nightclubs, the hoodlums, the young people looking for connection, looking for their place in a world that up until previously had not merely excluded them but incarcerated them.
Dsire Zamorano, Los Angeles Review of Books

A heart-pounding read for thriller aficionados, true-crime buffs and anyone who wants to learn more about the bitter history of Japanese Americans in the 20th century.
Reader's Digest

This WWII-set story of a woman trying to uncover the truth about her sisters death against the backdrop of the brutal internment of Japanese-Americans is simply Hiraharas most deeply felt and satisfying book to date.
Parade Magazine

Aki is an engaging and complex character . . . An impressive historical novel, but its also sadly timely, as we see the old baseless bigotry awakened again among the fearful and the violent.
Tampa Bay Times

This absorbing historical fiction, by the Edgar-winning author of the excellent Mas Arai series, vividly brings to life the experience of being Japanese American during World War II a shameful chapter of casual racism, fear and distrust that continues to echo today.
The Seattle Times

The crime-solving is absorbing, but the novel works more compellingly as an informed portrayal of life in crisis among a group of American citizens who learned the hard way that, in certain circumstances, democracy doesnt apply to them.
Toronto Star

Absorbing . . . The sisters dramatic and gripping story enriches the readers understanding of a problematic time, and highlights the vulnerabilities of socially marginalized young women, yet the novel is never didactic or preachy. In seeking justice for Rose, undaunted by unexpected obstacles, and learning from her own missteps along the way, Aki blossoms into a beautiful, resourceful, and brave young woman.
Mystery Scene Magazine

Akis grit, determination, and optimism recall Jacqueline Winspears Maisie Dobbs or Charles Todds Bess Crawford and make Clark and Division one of the more enlightening World War IIera mysteries in recent memory.
Alta Journal

In a complex, layered text, Hirahara incorporates historical details behind internment with a nail-biting plot . . .Hirahara doesnt shy away from her roots, looking at internment through a never-seen-before lens and showing readers what it means to be American.
Affinity Magazine

Gripping . . . This immersive true-crime historical mystery novel takes place in Chicago in 1944, at the height of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Ms. Magazine

Meticulous . . . Awonderful portrait of Japanese American resilience and struggle.
International Examiner

Clark and Division is a moving, eye-opening depiction of life after Manzanar. Naomi Hirahara has infused her mystery with a deep humanity, unearthing a piece of buried American history.
George Takei

Crime fiction is at its best when telling a compelling story while also analyzing the shadowy foundations of human nature. Very few writers do that better than Hirahara.
S.A. Cosby, The Washington Post

A beautifully written novel. A telling and touching story that echoes across the decades. Naomi Hirahara uses the past to inspire us to be relentless in doing the right thing, right now.
Michael Connelly, bestselling author of the Harry Bosch series

Naomi Hiraharas Clark and Division opened my heart and mind to specifics of the experience of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. Rich in period detail, it is page-turning historical fiction, a tender family story, and a mystery that plays on two levels: What happened to Rose Ito and At what cost are Japanese Americans finally seen as full Americans Its a story that moved me deeply.
Attica Locke, New York Times bestselling author of Heaven, My Home

Part historical fiction, part thriller, all a deeply moving family story, set in 1944 Chicago against the backdrop of the shameful treatment of Japanese Americans by the US government. Hiraharas gifted writing is a master class in how to bring a historical epoch to life.
Sara Paretsky, bestselling author of the Chicago detective VI Warshawski series

Beautifully written and deeply moving . . . Hiraharas novel is an accomplished and important story about a time in American history that I felt privileged bearing witness to.
Carole E. Barrowman, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Clark and Division does what crime novels do best: It uses a wonderfully wrought, ticking time-bomb of a story to illuminate a larger social issue, in this case the incarceration and resettlement of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II. A jewel of a novel. Buy it, read it, enjoy it.
Michael Harvey, author of The Chicago Way

Clark and Division is a heart-stopping crime novel woven inextricably into another, much larger atrocity: the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The story of Aki Ito and her family, newly released from Manzanar, transports us to an often ignored moment in our own history, while holding a mirror to the present day. In this immersive and resonant tale, Naomi Hirahara has given us the very best of what we hope for from historical crime fiction: a novel that is both intensely researched and deeply felt. It is the story of a crimemany crimesbut it is also the story of a young woman's courage and triumphant spirit. Aki Ito is the kind of heroine that belongs not just to the past, but to every generation. We see ourselves in her tenacity, her sense of justice, and her love for her family.
Amy Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of the Kopp sisters novels

One part mystery. One part historical fiction. In Naomi Hiraharas expert hands that 1+1 equation somehow equals 10, leaving you with a story that is enthralling, enlightening, and edifying.
Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Like no other work before, Clark and Division captures the day-to-day uncertainty of the post concentration camp Nisei world, where poverty, racism, and squalid living conditions co-exist with freedom, excitement, and dreams for a better future in wartime Chicago. Only Naomi Hirahara can mix a portrayal of a people in transition that feels authentic down to the smallest detail with an engrossing mystery filled with unexpected twists. Whether you are already a fan or are about to become one, this is not to be missed!
Brian Niiya, editor of the Densho Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia of Japanese American History

Clark and Division is as much about communal trauma as it is about the anguish of the Ito family, who are at the storys center. The grief of the Japanese community in Chicago

Author Bio

Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Summer of the Big Bachi, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and one of Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers; Gasa Gasa Girl; Snakeskin Shamisen; and Hiroshima Boy. She is also the author of the LA-based Ellie Rush mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, she has co-written non-fiction books like Life after Manzanar and the award-winningTerminal Island- Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor. The Stanford University alumna was born and raised in Altadena, CA; she now resides in the adjacent town of Pasadena, CA.