Karin Tanabe doing what she does best: bringing little-known history to life, making it feel visceral, personal, and REAL. Highly recommended.

This book was amazing, heart breaking and uplifting all at once. Tanabe captures the mood so perfectly and writes eloquently. Thank you so much for a review copy. I can't wait to read her other works,

The Diplomat's Daughter is a book about WWII that offers a different perspective than tbe one normally written about. This is the story of a Japanese girl, who is the daughter of a japanese diplomat in America during WWII. When she gets sick and is unable to return to Japan with her father after tbe Pearl Harbor bombings she is sent to an internment camp for the Japanese in America. This is a beautifully written book, but it is heartbreaking as well. I would recommend this book for all fans of historical fiction.

I have not found many books with stories told from the point of view of Asians and their American experiences. As an Asian American, I am always thrilled to come across a title that incorporates real world Asian perspecitives, especially those that can mix in multicultural characters and varied geographical settings. This book manages to do all of this and more. The experiences are wonderfully drawn from true accounts, and the global nature of World War II is depicted beautifully in the book.

Where I found it lacking was in character development. Emi, the Japanese diplomat's daughter, and her romantic interests, Christian and Leo, have so much potential. Emi's growth as a young woman in a world filled with conflict and a culture rooted in tradition doesn't quite reach a satisfying ending for me. Christian, whose German-born parents face unimaginable atrocities as falsely accused Nazi supporters, is introduced as so young and pampered and innocent; it was difficult for me to believe his journey since his experiences felt rushed and forced. Leo, the son of wealthy Austrian parents, wasn't given the attention he deserved given his introduction in the first half of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the story for its setting and background. My tastes are more for character-driven narratives, though, so I'm giving this title three stars. I will continue to follow Ms. Tanabe's career, as I feel she is a very talented writer.

One of the best historical novels of 2017. The novel had it all--love, tragic, hope, and lost.

I loved everything about "The Diplomat's Daughter." I have read many books about WWII and yet, I learned so much more about the Japanese and Germans that were in interment camps in the US. Karin Tanabe wrote an excellent detail depiction of the effects of war on families and relationships while keeping the story uplifting and hopeful. Karin has the ability of making her characters come alive and ring true. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You will be thankful that you have.

I love historical fiction and have read many books about WWII but this book promised a different aspect of the war that I hadn’t heard about. The author’s note at the beginning of the book states “My Japanese father was three years old when the firebombing of Tokyo and Yokohama occurred in May of 1945. . . . .his first memory was seeing his city on fire. My uncle who was ten remembered more including the swishing sound the napalm made as it hit the water and the children screaming “it hurts, it hurts”. “My understanding of the war all started with my father being attacked by American bombs.” Regarding the internment camps, “I discovered that in fact more than 11,000 German-Americans were interned, many having been held alongside the Japanese in a family camp in Crystal City, Texas”. From this and all of her research and writer’s gift of imagination grew the story of the three main protagonists in this book.

Emo Kato is the Diplomat’s daughter who traveled extensively with her parents and was used to a very special kind of life, a life of privilege and comfort. They are made to flee Vienna and go to Washington when Hitler’s army invades Vienna.

While in Vienna however Emo meets Leo Hartmann, who attends the same school, he is the son of an Austrian-Jewish banker and Emo and Leo share a young romance enhanced by their love of music and Emo’s expertise in playing their priceless, hand painted Steinway. With the rise of anti-Semitism throughout Europe the Hartmann’s are also made to flee for their lives.

With the Japanese involvement in the war the internment of the Japanese in the U.S. begins. Even the diplomats are not above reproach although they are given somewhat more preferential treatment.

In the internment camp Emo meets Christian Lange, the son of a German born steel baron from Wisconsin. A man had falsely accused Mr. Lange of some traitorous actions with the Germans, though we are never really told what that is. Christian was at the hospital visiting his mother who had suffered a tragic loss and met Emo who was working as a nurse’s aid. By this time Emo is a bit older and she and Christian fall in love and have a bit of a romantic involvement for the brief time that they are together.

I will be honest here in stating that the romantic encounters in this book I felt to be somewhat weak and at times silly, perhaps it was because the main characters were so young. I felt that the parents of the youth were not particularly well described and it was hard to get a feel for what their family life really was like.

It was interesting to learn that there were others besides Japanese in the internment camps, Germans and also Italians were interned. I also had no idea that some Jewish people fled to Shanghai and that it was a refuge during the war. It appears that it was only the people with some financial means that were able to flee there.

In 1943 the US ordered 1,340 people to be deported to Germany and Japan to trade for “Americans that the government cared for, that they wanted returned safely: missionaries, teachers, journalists and some POW’s”. Japanese-Americans and German-Americans would go in their places. The ship also stopped in Brazil and other ports to pick up additional passengers who were being traded, the reader never really gets any information about how these people were chosen and why they were being deported.

In the end I felt that I had lots of unanswered questions, things that were touched upon and then never really revealed. What happened to the homes and property of those interned? How does Christian find Emo after the war? How were the people chosen who were to be traded for other Americans? When the passengers were allowed off of the ship in Brazil, why did no one attempt to flee? I felt the story was a little disjointed, focusing a lot on the young romances with facts about the war woven in.

There is some good writing here for sure and I will look forward to Ms. Tanabe’s next novel. I was provided an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

Will also post to amazon upon publication

Review added to Amazon on July 20, 2017

The Diplomat's Daughter is a tour de force. . Tanabe expertly weaves together the story of three young people and their previously privileged families, two of them persecuted because of their ethnic or religious backgrounds. Setting the book just before and during WWII, Tanabe focuses on not only their stories but on little known stories of hardship and bravery, including a Texas internment camp for Americans with German or Japanese roots, Shanghai's safe haven for European Jews fortunate enough to receive the visas that were then being generously issued by several brave men as well as to have the means to make the long journey half-way round the world. She also takes us to the front lines of the war in the South Pacific as well as to the Japanese homefront, marked by food shortages and an influx of German Nazis. She pulls no punches. Bravo to Ms Tanabe. I can't wait to read what she produces next.

“She watched the world in front of her, the horizon line now impossible to discern, and thought that even when men were trying their best to become monsters, nature refused to give in. What was beyond her couldn’t be easily altered by human stupidity.” ("The Diplomat’s Daughter", Prologue)

At its best, historical fiction transports you to a time and a place where reality and the imaginary co-exist. From the outset, "The Diplomat’s Daughter" by Karin Tanabe did just that. It surprised me how quickly I was drawn in as Tanabe delicately weaved together the stories of three young people during World War II: a Japanese diplomat’s daughter, an Austrian Jew, and a first generation German American. The novel moves quickly around the world as it unveils the often overlooked horrors faced by German and Japanese Americans, displaced European Jews, the Japanese, and even the Chinese people. Tanabe tells their stories with honor and dignity as she sheds light on this troubled time in our world’s history.

No matter where the novel took me—Virginia, Texas, Vienna, Shanghai, or Tokyo—I was impressed with the overwhelming strength of its characters. Whatever terrors they faced, Emi, Christian, and Leo fought with all their might to maintain their humanity, and that of others. Tanabe reinforces this fact with a superb cast of supporting characters; Jack, Inge, Keiko, and Jin were exceptionally developed and I came to care for each of them just as much as the main characters.

"The Diplomat’s Daughter" is a breathtaking journey around the world and into the hearts of three people fighting for life—and not just life, but also love, honor, and a place to call home. I greatly appreciated this novel and its ability to open my eyes to places, people, and events that were a mystery to me. I’m sure that in the days and weeks to come, Emi, Christian, and Leo will continue to haunt my mind and inspire my heart to love and serve those around me.

Thanks Atria Books and netgalley for this ARC.

We travel from the US to Japan with Emi. Emi will win you to hear side with honesty, humor, and a candidness that makes her a unforgeable heroine. The journey thru life is celebrated in this novel. It's not always peaches and cream- and that makes this novel tart and enduring.

Hope, war, tragedy, love… what more could you hope for in a work of historical fiction? I was absolutely enamoured by The Diplomat’s Daughter, Tanabe’s attention to detail, and the depiction of the events that are too often left out of capital H ‘History’. Beautiful and heart wrenching the narrative seamlessly blends geographically disparate settings, multiple viewpoints, and raw emotion in a way that brings the story to life and stokes the fires of the imagination.

Ultimately though, the Diplomat’s Daughter is a touching and emotional exploration of what it means to be human, to make moral choices even if they run against the dominant ideology, and what it means to love in a time of war. I believed every moment, every emotion, and found myself constantly rooting for these three underdogs. Any crying… lets not forget the crying, but I do love a book that gets me right in the feels.

This story brings lesser known aspects of WWII of German/Japanese internment camp in Crystal City in South Texas; of the FBI right to search any house of German descent since US was at war with Germany. And that’s what happens to Christian’s prominent family. Their house is searched and they are sent to the camp, where he meets Emi, daughter of Japanese diplomat.

The story goes back in time to 1937 Vienna, when Emi’s and Leo’s story is revealed. It touches upon the brewing anti-Semitic movement before WWII. Leo comes from prominent Jewish family. And how some Jews obtained visas to enter Shanghai under Japanese control at the time.

Once in China, the life of Jewish family is presented. It’s not easy as Leo is chased by other boys and called names, but at least he feels there safe.

I appreciate stories, which bring lesser known facts, but this story is very flat. There is nothing engrossing about it. Historical facts are stated instead of being presented in action. The story of two young people falling in love is more appropriate for YA audience, including some of the dialogue and descriptions.

[actual rating: 4.5]
Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and WWII is my favorite time period, so it should be no surprise that I thought this book was dynamical and explored a different side of the war- internment camps where Japanese and German families were sent was well-loved by me.

Emi Kato, the daughter of a Japanese diplomat, who is multi-cultural, well-spoken, an independent women of the world gets stuck in a Texas internment camp. Leo Hartmann, Emi’s childhood sweetheart is a young Jew born and raised in Vienna, how to flee for his life to Shangai to escape the brutal forces of Hitler’s army. Christian Lange is German, born American teenager whose parents gets arrested and sent to these prison camps on the suspicions of them being “Nazi’s.”

Emi is someone who I could see myself looking up to, a wordly-educated, fiery, no-nonsense type of person, who is always using travel as a way to experience things (whether those be good or bad) to learn from me.

Featuring young love, the brutal portrayal and everyday existence of living in this intense time, this books hits you in a way almost shakes you to your core.

I would like to thank Karin Tanabe, Atria Books and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.
Review By Stephanie
5 Stars
WOW what a BOOK! During the months in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor bombing Emi Kato whom is the 21 year old daughter Japanese diplomat is locked up in a internment camp in Texas. Her world changes when she meets Christian Lange. Christians’ German parents are wrongfully arrested. They are living together in a prison with other German and Japanese families. They fell in love in the most unlikely place.
Then Emi and her mother are sent back to Japan, and Christian joins the US Army in hopes of being with his love. Emi is living in a resort town filled with Jews and Nazis. She over hears an officer bragging about the men he has killed in Asia. Which then ignites Emi’s need to find Leo Hartmann ( her first love) who was a refugee in Shanghai. Christian is worried about Emi’s safety and desperately trying to stop her.
This book was amazing! Karin Tanabe writes a passionate novel about three amazing young people and how their lives are intertwined. The Diplomat’s Daughter is seriously one of my 2017 favorite’s and I look forward to read more from Karin!

The story of the Diplomat’s Daughter revolves around three families, The Katos from Japan, the Hartmanns from Austria, and the Langes from the United States. Norio Kato is a Japanese diplomat who travels the world with his family in service to his country. Those travels bring his daughter into contact with the other families, primarily the sons of those families, Leo and Christian. There are elements of romance and a bit of promiscuity among these young people, but the true tale in the book is one of survival and perseverance in the face of hate and deprivation.

I loved the beginning of this book, when it did a good job of illustrating the horror of the pre-war years in Vienna and the cruelty the United States showed to honest, hardworking, and loyal residents. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the book took a turn toward soap opera. Things became overly contrived and melodramatic. Characters became stupid and whiny. I wanted to reach into the words and shake them. In the early parts of the book, I thought Leo was a wonderful, intelligent, kind young man. Later, he just turns stupid, and it costs him. Looking back from the end of the book, I’m not exactly sure why he and his family were included in the story. Their involvement does help to show Norio Kato as a good and helpful man, and it allows the author to show the horrors of pre-war Vienna, but other than that, there’s little cause for them to take up space. I will add that I thought that both Leo’s and Christian’s mothers were selfish, self-involved women, Helene more so than Hani.

His mother needed him, she told him constantly.

I mean who writes to their son, who is fighting in a war, and tells him that if he is killed, she’s going to throw herself into a river?

There’s so much in this book that isn’t explained, like why ethnic Japanese citizens and legal residents of South American countries wound up in internment camps in the United States, or why ships carrying deportees from the US would stop in Brazil to pick up additional passengers who were long-time citizens and legal residents of that country. Some background on that would have been helpful in understanding the book better. Beyond those questions, what bothers me the most is all the questions I’ve been left with after completing this book, from the frivolous to the important, in no particular order:

Did anything in the Vienna apartment survive?

Did the Hartmann’s chauffeur survive?

What happened to the Lange house, factory, and money? Are they ever returned to Christian? He would be the rightful owner.

Does the man who falsely reported the Langes and took over their properties receive any punishment for having done so?

After the war ends, how does Christian know where to find Emi?

Those are just some of the questions that are left hanging at the end of the book, which makes me wonder if the author plans a sequel.

All is not for naught. There are moments of prosaic brilliance in this tome.

It was the year that the world started melting at the edges, tolerance seeping through the cracks, unable to be saved.

Instead of the exhaustion and dread that were caked onto Christian’s face, they appeared buoyed by the glamour of the uniform, the heroics of war, perhaps even the probable death that was looming for them.

Sadly, there were also a ton of silly errors, like the crew of a ship handing out chocolate just as they’re hitting rough waters. Why would they do that when they tell the people that they’d intended to give the chocolate out at the mid-point of a two month voyage? And worse, they tell the people not to eat the chocolate because of the turbulent seas? People who have had little to eat for months in internment. Or allowing women to swim in pools without swim caps, something that wouldn’t have been allowed as pool pumps would have been destroyed by caught hairs. Swim caps were required in pools up into the 1980s! Repeatedly, the issue of mail comes up, how Emi, Leo, and Christian talk about sending mail between the warring nations. Why would anyone think that was a possibility? Yet the book belabors that issue, even going to the point of suggesting that it would be possible to send mail through embassies of their own countries or those of friendly countries. It’s very unrealistic. Also, I would have liked some explanation of how the things that happened to the Langes happened. What legal course was in place that would allow thing like that to happen. And since Christian was a native born US citizen and almost of age, why did he need to join his parents in the internment camp and face deportation? It’s irritating to have to go do my own research when that information should be included in the book. It doesn’t take much, just a paragraph or two to fill in the blanks and keep the reader for having these questions float around in their minds, pulling them out of the reading. Mostly, overall, the author should have done more research to make sure all of her facts were accurate and made sure that the reader had enough information to understand how things worked and why they were important. When reading a novel, I shouldn't need to go away from it to investigate on my own. Novels are meant for entertainment; they're not a research project.


While I enjoyed reading this book, and loved Emiko, her spunk and caring nature, and her parents, I’m disappointed with how things progressed and ended. I did read an advanced copy of the book, so there is the final editing process repaired many of these errors. I hope so.

My thanks to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

powerful, vibrant, compelling, and very unique storyline. it's an incredible read and my only complaint is that it ends much too abruptly. would be a great addition to any historical fiction collection.

Emi Kato is the daughter of a Japanese diplomat, moving around the world with her family. Unfortunately, she is caught up in America and sent to an internment camp with her mother. Prior to her American posting, Emi and her family are in Vienna, during the late 1930's, where she falls in love with Leo, a young Jewish man. While in the internment camp, Emi meets Christian, a German-American who also ends up interned when his parents are falsely accused of being pro-Nazi. The story is much more than a romance - the vivid scenes capture life in the internment camps, in Shanghai when Leo and his family escape from Vienna, in the US army fight against Japan, and in Japan where starvation leads to extreme actions. A good read, with lessons to be learned for the political scene we find ourselves in today.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review.