This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II

Alex attends church service with his parents and his older brother, Frank. The congregation is of diverse races; the white residents of Bainbridge Island sometimes attend the earlier, Japanese service. Pastor Ken Momose conducts the sermon in English.

Alex is nervous because his pretty classmate, Jessica Tanner, is sitting in the row in front of him. She talks to him when Pastor Ken tells the congregation to greet each other. Frank, the star of the football team, is friends with Jessica’s brother.

Before Pastor Ken can properly begin the service, Bruce Fukuhara bursts in and whispers something to the pastor. Pastor Ken solemnly announces that the Japanese Empire has attacked the military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The white people in the congregation become hostile and leave. This hostility follows Alex and his family home; while they are stopped at a red light, a white man spits at Alex and Frank as they sit in the back of their father’s pickup truck. At home, the Maki family listens to radio reports about the attack, and Alex knows that everything has changed.