The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill is a beautifully written story of love, secrets, and the meaning of home. How home lives in our bodies, minds and souls is melded into this book through intertwining stories about a grandmother and granddaughter - both facing struggles and adversity while maintaining their strong, resilient character.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Beautifully written story of a grandmother and her granddaughter, both battling demons from their past. The story is set in two time periods and two places, Japan in the 1940’s and Texas 1999. Mineko’s story is one of much sadness, as the love of her life is drafted into military service. Mineko eventually marries an American stationed in Japan, moving to Texas and leaving all she has known. Lia is a graduate student in architecture, when she suddenly returns home without explanation. Mineko begins to tell her story to Lia, hoping Lia will open up and explain what was going on with her. There is much heartbreak and sadness, but also tremendous family support and love. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

"But you carry his photo."

I loved this book. The relationship between Mineko and Lia was so lovely to read. As someone who lost my grandmother who also went through WWII, albeit in America, I should have asked more questions. My heart broke for Mineko so many times while reading. Her strength and determination was so inspiring. Mineko's life left me thoughtful and sometimes livid for her. All in all her story will stay with me for a while.

What do you do after your life has been completely turned upside down? In the beginning of this novel, Mineko and her granddaughter Lia are both facing unexpected changes in their lives that neither wanted. It draws them together and inspires Lia to record Mineko's story of growing up in Japan during WWII.

I loved the dual timeline that showed Mineko growing up in Japan but then brought it forward to present day in a tiny town in Texas with her son and granddaughter Lia. It highlighted some of the similarities of struggles that women have faced across time, as well as the specific struggles Mineko faced as a new Japanese bride in a small Texas town right after WWII, when feelings were not so warm towards the Japanese people.

If you love a good intergenerational story with a strong sense of place, both in the past in Japan and the 1990s in Texas, this book will be for you.

Thank you to @thoughtsfromapage and Amanda Churchill for the lovely author chat. It always enhances my reading so much to get a chance to hear from the author about their writing process. And the story behind this novel is so touching! Definitely don’t skip the author’s note in this book.

This cover! I have only seen it on my kindle so far but I can’t wait to see a physical copy of it. It’s so pretty.

The Turtle House is seen through the eyes of two characters. Mineko a grandmother. and her grandaughter Lia. The book spans from the 1930s to 1999. Minekos story start where she was born in Japan. She grew up there until she became a war bride and forced by her cruel husband to move to Texas with their small daughter and pregnant for her son. She remembers her real love Akio a sweet young man who she formed a nice friendship with. Mineko also has fond memories of an old house she found in Japan that was by a pond and had many turtles. she called her found old house "the Turtle House" world war 2 changed all of her dreams. Akio sent to war. she was forced to marry a cruel demanding man and move to Texas.
Granddaughter Lia has moved back to her town after attending college. She came back home with a secret. Her grandmother has lost her home and Mineko's son wants her to be put in a home. MIneko who is now called by her "american' name Minnie does not want to be in an "old folks" home she wants to go the turtle house home. and bring home a relic she had from those year.s. A good story. The book went back and forth between years but at least easy to follow.

This is one of those books that you think about for days when you are done or for me when I spot a turtle.
I loved it. I felt like I was there listening to the tapes of her life. While also unraveling what was happening to the granddaughter. It didn’t feel like a history lesson, but it was one I needed on the ‘brides’ and experiences during the war & following.
I’m so glad I had a chance to read this

really interesting, deep story about a three generation family, the grandmother and granddaughter bonding while in the same place.thanks for the arc.

This book contains three storylines/timelines about a Japanese woman during WWII, her life in Texas after the war, her granddaughter's experiences during and after architecture school, and their combined experiences after both experience some life altering traumas. I really loved Mineko's and Lia's relationship with each other and how, through storytelling, they are able to help each other and themselves process sadness/grief and challenging experiences in their lives.

Beautiful debut, publishes February 20, 2024!

Mineko is a Japanese grandmother who came to the United States when she married James after WWII. She moved with James to the small town of Curtain, Texas, where his family's ranch was located. Now (in 1999) the main house on the ranch burned down under mysterious circumstances, and she's living with her son Paul and his family, including his daughter Lia who moved back in under unnamed circumstances after her first job out of college.

In this novel, we learn about Mineko's life story in her words, and the second narrative is from Lia's (the granddaughter's) perspective. Like many dual narratives, the past storyline is much more interesting. However, whose life story that sweeps international waters and war wouldn't be more interesting than the past year or so of a college graduate's life? It's an unfair comparison, but I can't be the only one who wanted a more intriguing (and unique) story from 1999? The 1999 storyline is achingly slow and uninteresting, including the character of Lia.

Mineko's story kept me turning the pages, and I looked forward to seeing how her life unfolded. It did take me a while to get into her story, but once I settled in I became more and more invested. I particularly liked how the friendship between Mineko and Dimple was cultivated in Texas. I really *felt* that relationship.

This is an very good historical fiction debut centering on the first generation Japanese American experience.

Side note, this cover is exquisite and represents the book exceptionally well!

#theturtlehouse #amandachurchill

Confession time! I LOVE stories about the Asian experience especially during WWII. The Turtle House tells the story of Mineko, a young Japanese woman during WWII and then her life in North Texas.

Interspersed with Mineko’s story is the struggle of her granddaughter, Lia, who has quit her job in Austin and has returned home to live with her family.

Mineko is a great character. She’s suffered loss but it doesn’t change her spirit. She loves hard but not in a smothering way. She takes her role as a mother seriously and does whatever she can for her children, providing for them and also sheltering them from some of the harsher aspects of life.

Ms. Churchill based The Turtle House on her own grandmothers experience. There was so much I learned from this book about the Japanese during the US occupation after the war. I also learned more of how the Japanese were treated once they relocated to the US.

This is a debut novel but it was very well written. The harsher aspects of the story were handled with so much finesse. I really enjoyed this historical fiction novel and won’t soon forget Mineko. I also loved the references to Plano, Fort Worth and Austin. It’s always fun to have been where characters go in books!

Thank you to @thoughtsfromapage , Cindy Burnett, and @harperbooks for this fabulous story! I was able to read an advanced copy as part of the Thoughts From a Page podcast lit lovers patreon first reads program and I also got to meet virtually with Ms. Churchill to hear her discuss the book.

I truly loved this novel and felt very seen in its character, Lia. This is really a story of a grandmother and her granddaughter and how they connect to one another with stories of their past and present. When the grandmother is forced to move in with her son because of a house fire, and Lia moves back home after quitting her job, the 2 become close and share their most internal secrets. They grow close and make new plans together. I loved the storytelling and I especially loved the historical aspects of the story. I rarely read a story written with characters that I so closely connect to but as someone with a Japanese grandmother who moved from Japan and had trouble connecting with her grandchildren, I really saw my own self in this story. I loved this novel and recommend it highly.

Wow, what a powerful piece of art the author has created with this book. It is intergenerational with a dual timeline exploring how what occurred in one character's past affected their life to come, as well as generations after. Very well done and deep yet readable and wonderfully enjoyable.

Spanning generations and continents, THE TURTLE HOUSE is a fantastic debut that I want on your radar for the new year. Amanda Churchill based this big-hearted story on her grandmother’s experience as a Japanese woman who married an American soldier during WWII.

We meet feisty Japanese-American Mineko and her granddaughter Lia as they share a bedroom together in Curtain, Texas. Each woman has vastly different life experiences and finds themselves at a crossroads in the spring of 1999. Told in alternate timelines we see how Mineko’s life in Japan is upended as she marries an American soldier during WWII and moves to Texas and we root for Lia as she seeks to find her footing in her early career as an architect.

There is so much to learn and love about this story. It asks readers to consider what constitutes our identity, what makes a place a home, and what lengths we go to preserve pieces of who we once were. I loved watching Mineko and Lia’s relationship blossom as they find common ground and carve out new dreams.

Consider this your unofficial invitation to join us for Chapters & Chats book club as we host Amanda in April. More details to come!

PUB DATE: February 20, 2024
RATING: 4.5/5 (rounded up to 5 stars)

Many thanks to Harper and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5
Two POV's, a grandmother and a grand daughter who connect because they are sharing a bedroom.

As the reader we are brought into the grandmothers past as we learn of her life and time in Japan during and after WWII. This was my favorite part of the story. It was so interesting to read of her time during and after the war. I've been reading a lot of post war books lately and I'm seeing a similar theme among them that's giving me a new perspective and understanding. This, perhaps is one of my greatest joys in reading.

The grand daughter, Lia also has her story to tell. I found this POV dragged for me.

Towards the end of the book I became fully engaged and found myself very invested on the dual storylines.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the advance e-copy of this book.

This book was somehow heartbreaking, and yet it also was kind of a feel good story. The character development was really great, and I felt very connected to everyone.

“Most people hear Japanese and think of computers or cars. I guess if one has to live with a stereotype, it’s best that it be one with a higher socioeconomic career choice? I don’t know.”

In this dual POV, dual timeline narrative, debut author Amanda Churchill vividly portrays the difficulties Mineko went through as a Japanese bride to an American soldier, after losing the true love of her life, and then coming to America to face the prejudices against the Japanese and live with her unloving husband. But my love for this story is in the relationship between Mineko and her granddaughter. I had a very close relationship with my grandmother and their bond made me think back on my time with her.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Read if you like:
Grandmother/granddaughter stories
Dual timeline historical fiction
Banyan Moon

Thank you Cindy from Thoughts From a Page podcast and Harper Collins for a digital ARC.

Amanda Churchill’s debut novel, The Turtle House, was a delight to read, and the cover was just beautiful. The story revolves around Mineko and her granddaughter Lia. The two share a bedroom after Lia returns to live at her parent’s house in Curtain, Texas. As Lia works to figure out her life after unexpectedly leaving her career in architecture, she and Mineko spend a lot of time together. Mineko begins to share the story of her past - of growing up in Japan at the time of WW2, of her true love, and of the house with the turtles. The relationship between these two was something special to read, and I enjoyed hearing about Mineko’s life. I learned a lot about Japan during the war, the people, and even about the war brides who came to America. I also loved that Amanda Churchill used her own grandmother’s story as inspiration for her book. I highly recommend this novel!
Thanks to Harper and Cindy Burnett’s Thoughts From a Page Early Reads Program for the advanced copy of this book!

This debut novel follows the grandmother, Mineko, from the time she is a child beginning in 1936 Japan through to 1999 Texas. There are dual timelines alternating between pre-WWII Japan and 1990’s, and also flashbacks within those timelines. We get to know Mineko, what life in Japan was like during those pre-wartime days and then when Mineko became a Japanese war bride. We also get to know the granddaughter, Lia, an architect who has mysteriously returned to her childhood home and is sharing a bedroom with her grandmother after Mineko’s house burns down.

I liked that Japan was a setting as there aren’t many historical fiction novels set there during the 1940’s. This added an interesting element to this family saga. There is a precious love story, as well as an endearing grandmother/granddaughter relationship between Mineko and Lia. The story is very emotional at times and there are secrets woven throughout which propels the story forward.

I do feel the ending was open ended in some respects and I personally would have liked more closure. However, this can leave room for the reader’s imagination, and can make that part of the novel great for discussion. I also had a little bit of trouble getting into the story because the 1990’s Texas timeline didn’t exactly reel me in at first.

I’m glad I read The Turtle House and have so much respect and admiration for how Mineko endured hardship, change, and was resilient and wise. She made me smile at times with her antics. I adored Lia’s parents, and how they graciously supported her mental health. And that cover…it is absolutely stunning.

Thank you to Harper and Netgalley for the electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Cindy from the Thoughts From a Page podcast for arranging the ARC and author event through her Patreon Early Reads program.

This is a beautiful historical fiction novel about a time period and place that we don’t read much about - Japan before, during, and after WWII. It is a story that celebrates the special bond between grandmother and granddaughter, the promise of everlasting love, and the resiliency of women.

The main character, Mineko, is a plucky girl who finds a way to love in 1930s Japan, just as the WWII war machine begins taking Japan’s youth. She survives a hell on earth as bombs rain down, and through her strength, she makes her way to a new life thousands of miles away in Texas. As she reminisces with her granddaughter, the true Mineko, the one lost over fifty years before, emerges.

I just loved this book and how the author’s own family story inspired it. I was close with my own grandmother, and this novel made me appreciate her life and sacrifices even more. I highly recommend it for any historical fiction fans and those who want to read a new story about WWII.

Thanks to Cindy at Thoughts from a Page for the ARC as part of her Patreon program.

The cover of the book first captured my interest. It is gorgeous and I kept looking back at it! I loved this beautiful debut historical fiction novel told through a dual timeline about war, love, family and their secrets. I enjoyed the intergenerational relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. The story was heartbreaking, however, full of determination and hope. The ending left me satisfied and the acknowledgment by the author was a special treat to read!

I received an advanced electronic (eARC) copy from @thoughtsfromapage Early Reads Program. Thank you to Cindy Burnett and publisher Harper books. I appreciated the opportunity to preview this book.