Short Synopsis
Alternating between American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

Full Synopsis
After their father's death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother's ancestral home. Eager to go back to his own land—America—Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Despite being sent to an internment camp, Harry dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army.

As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.

Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

"With a deliberate yet delicate tone, narrator Emily Woo Zeller traces the paths of various family members back and forth to Japan for reasons of education and family, then to internment camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the brothers' service in the Japanese and the United States Armies, and, ultimately, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima." ---AudioFile

"A beautifully rendered work wrought with enormous care and sense of compassionate dignity." ---Kirkus Starred Review

"Sakamoto presents a gripping story of colorful individuals, though her novelistic tone often undermines the gravity of the story she relates." ---Publishers Weekly

"Midnight [In Broad Daylight] proves to be a resounding literary success that profoundly personalizes the devastating human cost of war." ---Library Journal Audio Review

Kirkus Review