{"product_id":"book-hl7l","title":"The Turtle House","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"\u003cstrong\u003eA heartbreakingly resonant debut, \u003cem\u003eThe Turtle House\u003c\/em\u003e is a tender, big-hearted story about women, family, and the complicated history of Texas. These characters, and their tentative, flawed stumblings toward grace, will stay with me.\u003c\/strong\u003e\"\u003cstrong\u003e-Elizabeth Wetmore, author of \u003cem\u003eValentine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Sweeping yet intimate, Amanda Churchill's \u003cem\u003eTurtle House\u003c\/em\u003e spans cultures and continents. Minnie and her granddaughter Lia are unforgettable protagonists, whose grit and grace will inspire you. Together, they find a way through in this gripping debut.\"-Vanessa Hua, author of \u003cem\u003eForbidden City\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMoving between late 1990s small-town Texas to pre-World War II Japan and occupied Tokyo, an emotionally engaging literary debut about a grandmother and granddaughter who connect over a beloved lost place and the secrets they both carry.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's spring 1999, and 25-year-old Lia Cope and her prickly 73-year-old grandmother, Mineko, are sharing a bedroom in Curtain, Texas, the ranching town where Lia grew up and Mineko began her life as a Japanese war bride. Both women are at a turning point: Mineko, long widowed, moved in with her son and daughter-in-law after a suspicious fire destroyed the Cope family ranch house, while Lia, an architect with a promising career in Austin, has unexpectedly returned under circumstances she refuses to explain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough Lia never felt especially close to her grandmother, the two grow close sharing late-night conversations. Mineko tells stories of her early life in Japan, of the war that changed everything, and of her two great loves: a man named Akio Sato and an abandoned Japanese country estate they called the Turtle House, where their relationship took root. As Mineko reveals more of her early life-tales of innocent swimming lessons that blossom into something more, a friendship nurtured across oceans, totems saved and hidden, the heartbreak of love lost too soon-Lia comes to understand the depth of her grandmother's pain and sacrifice and sees her Texas family in a new light. She also recognizes that it's she who needs to come clean-about the budding career she abandoned and the mysterious man who keeps calling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Mineko's adult children decide, against her wishes, to move her into an assisted living community, she and Lia devise a plan to bring a beloved lost place to life, one that they hope will offer the safety and sense of belonging they both need, no matter the cost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA story of intergenerational friendship, family, coming of age, identity, and love, \u003cem\u003eThe Turtle House\u003c\/em\u003e illuminates the hidden lives we lead, the secrets we hold close, and what it truly means to find home again when it feels lost forever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49341874209072,"sku":"BDhl7l","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49341874274608,"sku":"ZEhl7l","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49341874340144,"sku":"ZMhl7l","price":45.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/hl7l-Square-cover.jpg?v=1776514110","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-hl7l","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}