Description
Book SynopsisKirkus Reviews Best Historical Fiction of 2019 The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019 Torn apart by war and bigotry, two families confront long-buried secrets in this haunting American novel of World War II and Vietnam.
Trade Review"Sweet life spills from every perfect word. It will break your heart, and in the breaking, fill you with bittersweet but luminous joy." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Haunting.... Ray’s poignant suffering is but one example of the bigotry and fear experienced by Japanese born U.S. citizens after Pearl Harbor, the same bigotry and fear of the other that still sadly exists in America today....
YA: Ray’s story of young love and loss as well as an often omitted aspect of WWII history will resonate with teens." -- Deborah Donovan, Booklist
"Kiefer's sweeping novel (after
One Day Soon Time Will Have No Place to Hide) examines the ways war shapes the lives of ordinary people.... Kiefer's story sheds light on the prejudice violence ignites and on the Japanese American experience during a fraught period of American history, and makes for engaging and memorable outing." -- Publishers Weekly
"Christian Kiefer is a masterful writer, and this magisterial novel is aching with beauty and power. This is a great book." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels
"Set in the golden foothills of the Sierra Nevada and spanning the middle decades of the twentieth century,
Phantoms tells the intertwined stories of two families, two wars, and two soldiers trying to make their way home. Exploring the brutal legacies of racism and war with unflinching honesty and incandescent prose, this novel asks: Who gets to tell their stories, and who doesn’t? What if you’re entrusted with—or thrust into—someone else’s story? Who gets to find their way home?" -- Naomi J. Williams, author of Landfalls
"Christian Kiefer's
Phantoms is a kaleidoscopic marvel. With each new chapter, Kiefer deftly turns the dial, shifting patterns and textures and hues, urging us to question assumptions and to reconsider old truths. In confronting the complex legacies of World War II and Vietnam, Kiefer has delivered a haunting story of the past that will make us see the present anew." -- Kirstin Chen, author of Soy Sauce for Beginners and Bury What We Cannot Take
