A captivating new novel about one family’s darkest secrets and the lengths to which a man will go to set things right.
Awards and Recognition
2020 Independent Press Award – Winner – Historical Fiction
2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award – Winner – Historical Fiction
2020 Massachusetts Book Award – Finalist
France, October 1944: A Japanese American war hero has a secret. A secret so awful he’d rather die than tell anyone—one so entwined with the brave act that made him a hero that he’s determined never to speak of the war. Ever.
Fifty-five years later, his son, Daniel Tokunaga, is a world-famous cardiac surgeon with a beautiful wife and successful kids. But Daniel’s outwardly perfect life is a façade. He despises his father who prized toughness and achievement above warmth or affection. And for other reasons…troubles from the past that he has never revealed to another soul.
As Daniel’s marriage threatens to crumble from his own indifference, and a medical crisis compels him to return to his parents’ home, he stumbles upon the darkest secret of all—his father’s.
Soon the quest for the truth between father and son opens wide the gulf between them but also Daniel’s deepest questions of life…what is honor? Redemption? And most important of all, what is love?
Drawn from the heroic true story of a Japanese American regiment that fought in World War II and became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, this poignant drama also shows the sorrows of the internment camps where American citizens of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned solely because of their race.
Repentance is a swift, sweeping novel in which one family’s catastrophic past unfurls just as the foundation of their present lives begins to crack. What they learn is that the briefest of moments—a split-second of indecision—can echo across generations.
Some secrets are too painful to be shared.
Some secrets you wish you never knew.
Selected Media & Reviews
“A poignant, nuanced tale of familial pain and renewal.”
“Repentance is a riveting, suspenseful family drama that is closely entwined with the history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.”
Repentance…is…“amazing!”
Dr. Andrew Lam: “Medicine by day, writing by night.”
“This marvelous novel deserves to become a majestic movie.”
“A part of WWII history that we don’t often hear about.”
“His writing is like a breath of fresh air.”
“Novelist Andrew Lam Puts Focus on 442nd RCT”
“Review: ‘Repentance’ fuses fiction, history.”
Review: “Lam challenges readers to be a better version of themselves by sacrificing for others”
From the Cutting Room Floor – Alternate Book Covers
