Sisters Matsumoto

 Gotanda, Philip Kan. Sisters Matsumoto. 2019. ISBN 9781682660850. 

The three Matsumoto sisters have always been close-knit. They grew up on a prosperous farm in California, but when the U.S. was Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, their world suddenly changed. Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were ordered to report to train stations, where they were loaded in trains with blinds to prevent them seeing where they were heading. They soon found themselves in an internment camp. As the war rolled towards its conclusion, the Matsumoto family was released, and the sisters returned to California minus their father, who died in the camp.

Back home, they soon realize that life will not return to what it was before Pearl Harbor. For one, their father, worried about who would take care of the farm while they were gone, and needing money to support his family, sold the farm while they were in the camp, and never told his daughters. Their house still stands filled with memories, but it will soon be occupied by someone else. As the sisters pick up the pieces of their pre-war life, they begin contemplating what their future holds.

Pair this audiobook with We Hereby Refuse and Displacement for a well-rounded view of the Japanese-American war experience in the 1940s.