Lush Meditation on War

Jennifer Cody Epstein's new novel, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment tells the story of several families, American and Japanese, and how they are all connected by one of the most devastating acts of war in human history. In this  epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an  expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead and half the city in ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.