June 26, 2020

The 2020 title for the Nashua Public Library’s annual Nashua Reads: One City, One Book program is Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

With support from the Friends of the Nashua Public Library and the Ella Anderson Trust, Jamie Ford will meet virtually with library patrons to talk about the book. The event will be held on Sunday, October 11, at 2 pm. It is free, but registration is required.

About the book

During World War II in Seattle, Henry Lee, a Chinese American boy, meets Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfew, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors.

After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to internment camps, she and Henry are only left with hope that the war will end and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope.

This book, a national bestseller, was named the #1 Book Club Pick in 2010 by the American Booksellers Association. It has been translated into 35 languages.

About the author

Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name “Ford,” thus confusing countless generations.

Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His second book, Songs of Willow Frost, was also a national bestseller.

Ford’s work has been translated into 35 languages. (He’s still holding out for Klingon, because that’s when you know you’ve made it). His latest novel is Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

Get your copy now

The library has nearly 100 copies of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, including paperback, audio, and e-book versions. In addition, multiple copies are available for borrowing by book groups.

So reserve your copy; read it; talk about it with your friends, coworkers, and neighbors; and then join the virtual event with the author this fall.

About One City, One Book

The goal of the One City, One Book program is to get as many Nashuans as possible to read the same book and talk about it with friends, coworkers, and neighbors. The program is now in its 18th year.

The idea of community reading programs originated in 1998 when the Washington Center for the Book sponsored “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book.” In the years since, similar programs, under names like “One City, One Book,” “The Big Read,” and others, have been held throughout the US.

For more information visit nashuareads.com.