"Witty, rich, layered, and so very satisfying. Dilloway's talent shines through from the very first page, and I was terribly sorry when it ended. This is by far one of the best books I've read in ages,"---Jane Porter, author of Easy on the Eyes"Charming, poignant, and life-affirming. Dilloway reminds us of the triumph of love over geography, silence, and misunderstanding. She makes us glad to be alive."---Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle"An enthralling debut, told in an utterly original voice."---Holly kennedy, author of The Penny Tree"A compulsively readable novel. How to Be an American Housewife, confirms that redemption and happy endigs are always possible."---Patricia Wood, author of Lottery"How to Be an American Housewife will charm and uplift you."---Iris Rainerdart, author of Beaches."Wise and ironc. Margaret Dilloway has created wonderful characters who never, in spite of hardships, stop finding ways to love each other."---Luanne Rice, author of The Deep Blue Sea for Beginers"Dilloway is one of those remarkable writers who can completely transport you to a unique place and time. The richness of detail will have you reaching for your kimono before you realize it didn't happen to you."---Kerry Reiches, author of Leaving Unknown"How to Be an American Housewife took me on two intricate journeys, from postwar Japan and the shadow of Nagasaki to contemporary California, and from motherhood to daughterhood and back again. A profound and suspenseful debut."---Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street."A triumphant debut novel. Margaret Dilloway gives us the most original, endearing, courageous, and enduring narrator I've read in a long time. Shoko's voice is one-of-a-Kind, yet as familiar as advice from your own mother. Her unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, disappointment, and joy will stay with me."---Susan Wiggs, author of The Story of UsShoko and Sue are two women who are as different as sushi and hot dogs. Shoko is proper and Japanese, and Sue is casual and American. They can't communicate without misunderstanding each other, and neither really understands what makes the other happy -or unhappy. Perhaps the Only thing the two women have in common is that they are mother and daughter.How to Be an American Housewife is a warmly humorous, insightful, page-turning novel about that powerful bond that seems to cause as much trouble as comfort. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, determined to become a perfect American housewife. The only help she had along the way was a guidebook her husband gave her that promised to teach her husband gave her that promised to teach her how to clean house the American way, but never told her how to like like an American, or how to feel like one. Sue, Shoko's grown daughter, was raised American from birth, but even she hasn't been able to figure out the elusive secret to American middle-class happiness. Her life as an American housewife hasn't been at all what she expected.But surprises await both women, and their stories are about to take a radical turn. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan to be reunited with her brother, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways. Sue's world will shift on its axis, and her mother will be forced to confront her long-buried past, and the ways it continues to haunt all of them.Told from the sharply distinctive perspectives of mother and daughter, How to Be an American Housewife offers a compelling glimpse into American and Japanese family lives and their potent aspirations. Engaging, suspenseful, with fiereely vivid voices that ring off the page, this is a wholly entertaining novel full of unexpected twists and rich layers of wisdom. Read Less