The Moonflower
by Phyllis A. Whitney
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Fiction. Romance. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The wife of a scientist fights for her marriage—and her husband's sanity—in postwar Japan in this novel by "a superb and gifted story teller" (Mary Higgins Clark). When Jerome Talbot's brilliant career as an atomic physicist leads him once again to Japan, his wife, Marcia, knows it means yet another long separation, but she hopes to reunite with him soon. Confidently awaiting word to join him, she is blindsided when she receives a letter show more demanding divorce. Stunned and hurt, she leaves their home in Hawaii to confront Jerome in Kyoto, certain she'll get an explanation to heal her wounded heart. But when Marcia arrives, she can't be sure of anything . . . Jerome has become a stranger—obsessed, cruel, unhinged, and resolved never to return home—committed only to his work, which reaches back to World War II. Even more peculiar, he's living in unusual intimacy with a a close-knit, unnervingly private Japanese family whom Marcia is forbidden to talk to and to whom Jerome seems not only beholden, but enslaved. Marcia resolves to stay in Kyoto until she discovers the secret driving her husband mad—and the truth behind a terrible legacy that could threaten both their lives. A "brilliant, absorbing, [and] moving" novel of romantic suspense by a New York Times–bestselling, multiple award–winning author—who was herself born in Yokohama—The Moonflower is an authentic exploration of life in postwar Japan, as well as a chilling tale of guilt, family secrets, and a marriage at risk in the never-forgotten shadow of Hiroshima (Richmond Times-Dispatch). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Set in Japan after several years after World War II, this book is a romance and a mystery. Yet there is more to it, as the main character learns about post-war Japan through the other characters who experienced prison camps and the dropping of the atomic bomb.
3.5* This was a good read if a little dated first published in 1958. That said I do like Phyllis Whitney’s writing style- this is the third book of hers I have read
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Author Information
108+ Works 11,671 Members
Mystery author Phyllis A. Whitney was born in Yokohama, Japan to American parents on September 9, 1903. After her father's death in 1918, she and her mother traveled from Japan to San Francisco, California on an ocean liner. In 1924, she graduated from McKinley High School in Chicago and sold short stories to newspapers, church papers, and pulp show more magazines as well as worked in bookstores and libraries. She was a Children's Book Editor of the Chicago Sun's Book Week from 1942 to 1946 and the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1947 to 1948. She also taught juvenile fiction writing courses at Northwestern University in 1945 and at New York University from 1947 to 1958. She writes both juvenile and adult mysteries, many set in an exotic location. Her first juvenile book was published in 1941 and her first adult novel was published in 1943. Since then, she has written over 75 books. She has won numerous awards including the Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1961 and 1964, the Sequoyah Award of Oklahoma, and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1988. Phyllis A. Whitney passed away on February 8, 2008 at the age of 104. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1958
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 125
- Popularity
- 259,739
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.42)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 11
