"Originally published as El Amante Japonés in 2015 in Spain by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial"--Title page verso.

1939. As Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, Alma Belasco's parents send her to live with an aunt and uncle in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family's Japanese gardener. A love affair begins to blossom.-- until the two are pulled apart following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Decades later Irina Bazili, a care worker, meets Alma's grandson, Seth, as he visits at a San Francisco nursing home. Intrigued by a series of mysterious gifts and letters sent to Alma, they eventually learning about Ichimei and a secret passion that has endured for nearly seventy years.