From the blurb, Tessa Morris-Suzuki''s Japanese historical fiction with murder really appealed to me, but I found it far too slow moving for me, and I gave up reading at 30%, just unable to continue any further. It might just have been me, I have been finding it difficult to concentrate, and this may well have affected my experience of this novel. Many apologies, it just was not working out for me.

I really tried to like this book. It had elements that I find fascinating but after two chapters in I couldn't get into it.

DNF

It's sort of hard to pinpoint what I enjoyed about this, but I did. Perhaps the setting, the simplicity of following these people's lives. The details are remarkably accurate is there list of reference sources way the end are anything to go by.

Recommended: sure
For a slow ready to sink into, for a story as it may have happened, for a book where what you want to happen isn't necessarily what will happen

Thoughts:
This is not really a happy story, so definitely know that going in. Throughout the whole thing, there's an edge of tension and fear, so even when things seem to be going fine, it all feels a bit perilous. That's magnificently well captured because of the situations Elly and Jun each find themselves in, which are certainly anything but secure and comfortable.

This did take me a while to become interested in, but once it did, I was able to sink into it and slowly take it all in as I made my way through. This doesn't feel like a book to rush through, but rather to carefully observe. The characters are easily what drive this, more than the plot. I was certainly curious to see how all of their lives would swarm together, but ultimately it was the intimacy of knowing each of their minds that kept me going.

The setting (Tokyo, Japan) and time frame (the Korean War) combined for a take on that time in the world that I haven't seen before. From the perspective of foreigners watching the results of the war around them, invisible yet always present, it builds to feel desperately ominous. The fact that Elly has her own difficult stories only hinted at emphasizes the pain she must feel at seeing those stories in others.

Definitely stick around at the end for the author's note(s) which give more detail about the period in the book and the research that went into it. Some of the characters are based on real people, some are based on common stories but no one individual. I loved learning a bit more about them.

Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

(TW: infertility, adoption, torture)

_The Lantern Boats_ follows Elly, an English tutor, and Jun, a smuggler-turned-spy, as they lives their lives in post-war Tokyo.

The prologue was beautifully written and to me was the best part of the novel. The setting was wonderful to visualize. Then you come upon a dead body. You don’t know who has died or who has killed them; both are mysteries that are explored throughout the novel through several twists and turns.

Other than some character descriptions at the beginning( that I felt were slightly problematic, I enjoyed this mystery novel. It picks up steam as you get closer to the end. The end kind of fizzles out because it keeps going after the climax (and not through an epilogue).

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Joffe Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love discovering new authors and Tessa Morris-Suzuki is certainly a new author for me. Anybody who knows me well, knows that not only am I a book geek, I also love historical fiction with a particular focus on the Second World War and its aftermath. So you can probably understand why the synopsis of ‘The Lantern Boats’ shouted ‘read me’ at me. Well it did. So I gathered up my supplies (cup of tea and a biscuit), grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what I hoped would be an interesting afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed reading ‘The Lantern Boats’ but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long at all to get into ‘The Lantern Boats’. In fact by the time I got to the bottom of the first page, I knew that I was going to be in for a riveting read. To say that reading ‘The Lantern Boats’ became addictive seems a bit of an understatement. I would pick the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but I would end up becoming so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and I read way more than a couple of chapters- more like half a dozen chapters in one go. I was intrigued to see in which direction the story was going to go. The pages turned fairly quickly as I worked my way through the story. All too quickly I reached the end of the story. I found ‘The Lantern Boats’ to be a gripping read, which kept my attention throughout and which certainly kept me guessing.
‘The Lantern Boats’ is well written. The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draw you into what proves to be a compelling read. ‘The Lantern Boats’ is slightly different to the rest of the historical fiction that I read in that it is set in Japan and most of the historical fiction I read is set in either the United Kingdom or in Europe. I love the way in which the author makes Japan come alive. She describes the area so well that it would be easy to imagine that you were right there yourself if you closed your eyes. I found ‘The Lantern Boats’ to be an enchanting and beautifully written story.
In short I really enjoyed reading ‘The Lantern Boats’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Tessa’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

This is different from the usual crime book. I was expecting a spy thriller but it didn't really fit that model either Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved it It was very eye-opening and insight into life in a different culture and the descriptions of areas and people was brilliant.

Jun is put ashore from a smuggling ship and sent to carry out a task but he fails and is caught and threatened. On his knees with a gun to his head he has 2 choices: work for them or die. Unsure who he will be working for or what he will be doing Jun decides any life is better than no life. And so begins his 'training'.

Elly is living in Tokyo, a place she doesn't know and she doesn't speak Chinese. Despite finding out she will never carry a child Elly is happy with Fergus and they begin the process to adopt a child. Then Vida enters their world and things change. Is Fergus having an affair?

The worlds of Jun and Elly collide and it can only end in tragedy.

A very interesting and gripping thriller I loved reading this very realistic story with unusual characters. If you like something a little different this is definitely one you should put on your list .

The Lantern Boats takes place in post-war Tokyo in 1951 and follows diverse perspectives for the time. Jun is an illegal immigrant who lost his family as a child during the war, Vida is a Japanese citizen who spent the war in China, Elly is half Japanese and was forced to stay in an Australian internment camp during with her family the war, and Elly’s husband Fergus is a Scottish journalist. We see how all these characters, as well as the US as the occupying force, intersect and what the power dynamics were like. I love historical fiction, but this was my first read about post-war Japan. I always appreciate learning about new perspectives, which I certainly did in this book, but the plot moved a bit slow for me, especially for a book described as a thriller. I generally prefer a book that shows me what’s going on rather than telling me. Overall, it’s a nice option for someone who wants to read about the time period. Thanks to @netgalley and @joffebooks for my advanced copy!

This was unfortunately a miss for me, so I cross posted this review to Instagram without the star rating and to Goodreads.

Happy publication day to "The Lantern Boats"!
To be honest I was captivated by the synopsis and the cover and decided to request the copy. After reading it I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book more than some other historical fiction books about Japan that I have read. However I am still not sure how to rate this book. I am simewhere between 3.5 and 4 and I will probably stay with 3.5, but round up to 3.
The story is told through two POVs - 1) Elly Ruskin, Japanese-Skottish young lady who was repatriated to Tokyo after the end of WWII and now suspects her husband Fergus in having an affair with Japanese poet Vida Vidanto and 2) Kamiya Jun, young boy who has been recruited by occupying American forces to spy on Vida's life.
The book is very short, but at the same time a slow burner. It is slightly more than 200 pages long, but the prelude to the main events is like 130 pages.
I really enjoyed Elly's story line, but I struggled with the Jun's one, specifically with its end, it really upset me (who read the book will understand me). And also the end of the book leaves me with more questions than answers. Now I would like very much to see the second part and read more about Elly's future life, she is really great female character.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the arc copy in exchange for honest review.

The hauntingly beautiful festival of Toro Nagashi (literally, ‘flowing lanterns’) is one of the major events in Japan’s year. Traditionally celebrated at the end of Obon – a three-day Buddhist festival held in late August – Toro Nagashi sees thousands of lanterns set afloat at dusk to commemorate the souls of the dead. The resulting scene is a spectacular play of light and dark as the lanterns’ glow slowly fades into the distance. During Obon, it’s believed that the spirits of deceased ancestors return to their homes for a short period. A mukaebi (‘welcoming fire’) is lit so that the ancestors can easily find their way home.

Elly Ruskin is finding it hard to settle in Japan, even though she is half-Japanese by heritage. Part of the problem is that she suspects her husband is having an affair with Vida Vidantao, a well-known Japanese poet.

Elly is not the only person keeping an eye on Vida. Occupying American forces want to know why Vida spent years in China. Enter Kamiya Jun who goes undercover to spy on her.

Vida has secrets ... secrets worth killing for. She is found murdered in her apartment. Is it a case of mere jealousy or has there been a betrayal of a more dangerous kind?

I loved the history of Tokyo in 1951. I enjoyed the meaning of the lantern boats .. all new to me. It;s entertaining, it's compelling, it's a murder mystery, it's a story of love, betrayal ... and secrets. The plot is complex, well-written, with deftly drawn characters. Surprises abound and lead to an unexpected conclusion. The author is Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. As such, I expected a great deal of credibility... and I was not disappointed.

Many thanks to the author / Joffee Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

4.5 stars

The stunning beautiful cover of this novel made me want to read this book. However I was expecting something more than I read. The book starts with Jun, a young boy working on boats sent on a secret mission by his captain but ending up spying on a poet Vida Vidanta. Elly and her husband Fergus live in post war Japan, their paths link with Jun as Fergus (a journalist) is interviewing Vida.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

The Lantern Boats is a slow burn historical fiction/thriller set in post-WWII Japan. It follows Elly, a half Japanese woman looking to adopt a child in Japan, and Jun, an 18-year-old who was smuggled into Japan via lantern boat. Elly and Jun's lives intersect over a poet named Vida with possible ties to the Communist party and an unexpected murder.

If you like historical fiction, mystery, espionage, and/or learning about post-WWII Japan, I recommend this book! I had a little bit of trouble getting into it at first because there were a lot of characters to keep track of and storylines to get straight. However, the book really hit its stride shortly after the halfway point, and I was very interested in what happened next. 3.5/5 stars.

I usually don't read mystery books, but the beautiful cover and the era being a few years after WW11, I felt compelled to take a chance and read this one. The story tells how the lives of Elly Ruskin and Jun, people who don't know one another, collide when poet Vida Vidanto is murdered. Historical novel fans will also enjoy this book. Thanks to author Tessa Morris-Suzuki, publisher Joffe Books, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review.

Synopsis: Elly Ruskin a young half Scottish/half Japanese woman who has been repatriated to Japan after WWII, is struggling to settle into her new home. To make matters worse, she suspects that her husband is having an affair with Japanese poet Vida Vidanto. She is not the only one suspicious of Vida. Kamiya Jun has been recruited by the occupying American forces to spy on Vida to find out about her activities in China during the war. When Elly accepts an invitation to lunch with Vida in an attempt to learn about the woman her husband has been spending time with, Jun begins tracking her as well.

Review: The Lantern Boats is a slow burn mystery, with good plot and character development. The author does a good job using alternate points of view to keep the reader guessing. I loved the setting - the author’s descriptions helped me envision 1950’s Tokyo, and I enjoyed learning a bit about Japanese culture and history. I enjoyed the plot and there were a few surprises, but some moments felt a bit anticlimactic to me. If you like your mysteries fast paced and action-packed, this might not be for you. But if you enjoy historical fiction with a little bit of mystery and suspense, you might want to pick this one up.

4/5 Stars!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @JoffeBooks for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Lantern Boats is a unique slow-burn thriller set in Occupied Japan. I say slow burn because it’s not a James Bond type thriller, instead it’s the kind that slowly reveals its secrets to the reader. The setting for the novel is unique in that there is very few novels set in Post-War Japan, and the characters themselves are unusual as well. Jun is a young man from from the Kuril Islands, which the Soviets take back at the end of the war- these islands are inhabited by Japanese, Russian, and native Ainu giving them their own unique culture unlike mainland Japan. Elly is half Japanese half Scottish who was born and raised in the East Indies and spent the war in an Australian internment camp, and then Vida, who comes from a well to do Japanese family but spent the war China supporting the Communists. What’s interesting is that none of these characters fit into traditional Japanese society, either by choice (Vida), or by birth (Jun and Elly). Then you have the American Sergeant, Eugene Goto, a Japanese-American who briefly tells Jun about his family loosing everything and being put into a camp in the US. He is the in-between character. The Japanese see him as a traitor and he doesn’t feel like an American. None of the characters feel like they belong.

The story basically revolves around a secret American unit operating in Japan and trying to uncover Communists. The spiderweb of how these characters all intermingle and their stories intertwine was well developed. The unit, the American Colonel, and Jun are all based on real people which is fascinating, and now I’ll have to do more research. If you enjoy novels set in modern Japan, stories about the Cold War, or spy novels, I recommend this book. Very well researched.

Post war Japan. Betrayal and murder!

A young Scottish Japanese woman has been repatriated from Australia to Japan after the war.
Elly and her family had been residents in Australia and interned there during the war. In Japan she meets and married a Scots journalist, Fergus Ruskin. They are looking to adopt a child,
A Japanese youth, Kamiya Jun, from islands off from Russia was working on a smuggling boat, and through a series of happenings ends up in an American intelligence unit that has a very low profile, a Black Ops type organisation.
Elly and Jun’s lives intersect when he sees her attending an event entitled, Study Circle on Women in the New China. The woman he’s been tracking, Vida Vidanto, the Japanese Poet, whom he dubs The Fox is speaking. Elly hardly knows Vida, but she accepts an invitation to lunch, curious to know more about her, afraid of what her husband Fergus’ relationship might be with Vida. And so Elly and Vida get dragged into Jun’s surveillance operations. Work that he falsifies and embellishes to satisfy his new masters, fearful of consequences for himself if he doesn’t. There are however dire outcomes for others.
People collide innocently and others interpret those meetings as darker events.
Knowing the thinking of post war United States comes in handy. The House UnAmerican trials with Senator MCarthy are happening in the States instigated to root out communism, the Allied Occupation of Japan is led by the Americans, and Communism and Russia is a threat on one hand, with China on the other.
An unusual, edgy and interesting story that engages with history from a different perspective. Morris-Suzuki strikes to the heart of fears and life for many in Japan in the years following the war.
I do love the cover BTW

A Jofee Books ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

4 stars

A thoughtful & touching story of family, survival, trust, & secrets. It’s more literary fiction than a mystery, although there are secrets & unanswered questions that lend suspense. I liked the characters, & especially the setting.

[What I liked:]

•The Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) is a fascinating time period—occupying forces on high alert for any communist/socialist activity, massive political shifts, civilians struggling with tragedy & trauma in the aftermath of the war, & rapid cultural & social & economic changes (often imposed by the occupiers & often motivated by racism). It’s an era I’ve personally invested time in researching, and this book delivers: evocative of place, societal tensions, and the war-torn landscape of 1951 Japan, just months away from Japan’s regaining of national sovereignty.

•I really liked Elly. She’s so relatable & admirable, but not at all perfect. Fergus, Vida, & Ted I liked as well—each is very interesting & I wanted to know them better.

•The domestic/relational tensions are skillfully woven together with the larger external threats facing Elly & those connected to her. The thrills aren’t there just for excitement’s sake, the secrets touch her deepest fears & longings.

•This book is well researched & the writer has an academic background in Japanese history. I really appreciated the bibliography she shared, as well as her notes on the historical events & figures that inspired this novel.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Getting Spero’s birth registered with no proof seemed a bit far-fetched...although I know things weren’t quite as well documented back then. Still, since it was pointed out that Elly had difficulty getting her own British passport as an adult, you’d think there would have been similar roadblocks in getting one for Spero.

•The infidelity bit is kind of glossed over at the end. It’s not really resolved between the involved parties, so it felt a little like things were brushed under the rug to give a happy ending by the end of the book.

•Kamiya’s character is hard for me to sum up my feelings for. On one hand he does have emotional depth, & I liked his backstory & seeing how he processed his thoughts & feelings about his adventures during the story. On the other, I never really got a sense of what he was living for. Of course he was young & perhaps still only in survival mode, but I think I would’ve connected to him better if I knew what he wanted out of life & what his dreams were.

CW: murder, torture, infidelity, miscarriage

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Tokyo, 1951: Elly Ruskin ia still struggling to settle. Half Jananese by heritage, Elly was repatriated to Japan after the war, but Tokyo is a city she barely knows. And now Elly is certain her new husband is having an affair with the enigmatic Japenese poet knoen as Vida Vidanto. Elly is not the only one suspicious of Vida. The occupying Amarican Forces have their eye on her too.

Set in post WWII: The story gives us an insight into what it was llike in Asia after the war was over. We follow Jun and Elly on their journey through life and it's tild through both of their perspectives. With the Korean war approaching, Elly and Fergus are involved in a case of a mysterious death. The oace is steady and the characters are well developed. A mix if historical fiction and thriller. My only complaint is that i felt the ending was rushed.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #JoffeBooks and he author #TessaMorrisSuzuki for my ARC of #TheLanternBoats in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

To be completely honest, thrillers aren’t typically my cup of tea. However something about this book just drew me in. I was in the mood to read something that I don’t typically pick up and this was perfect for me.

The characters are well-developed and are incredibly well written. Their perspectives also are completely different and add to the plot in different ways which I really enjoyed. With Kelly we got the perspective of someone living a seemingly normal like, however with Jun we got someone who would do anything to survive. The differences between the two characters also adds a lot of contrast, from Kelly who is suddenly forced into this world, to Jun whose day to day life is constantly packed with action.

It’s clear from reading the book just how well researched it is. However, I cant really speak on how good the representation was.

The Lantern Boats is an exceptionally well written and intriguing story based in part on real people and set in post-WWII Occupied Japan, a period and place about which I knew little before reading this book . With the Korean War looming and the threat of the spread of Communism ever-present, Elly and Fergus become entangled in the case of a mysterious death. Equally mysterious is the appearance of Kamiya Jun, a young Japanese man who is a near indentured servant on a vessel used for smuggling and who serves as a catalyst for much of the plot. Although the novel opens with a focus on Jun, it really features Elly, a woman of Japanese and British heritage who is married to a Scottish journalist. While some of the pieces of the story are left untold and there are a few too many coincidences and elisions to be totally satisfying, The Lantern Boats is a very good read. It should appeal to individual readers who are interested in other cultures and who relish a good story that has a few mysteries and lacks violent scenes. It also should rank high as a good choice for book clubs.

The Lantern Boats is a stunningly beautiful book, following the paths of two characters, Jun and Elly, as they make their way through their lives.
Jun's perspective is the more action packed if the two, a boy who has moves from one harsh reality to another, doing all that he can to survive. His story is one that makes him easy to sympathise with and is written wonderfully.
Kelly's perspective on the other hand focuses more on the day to day life of a citizen, whose path crosses with the mysterious Vida, and is filled with rich imagery that's easily transports a reader into 1950s Japan.
Each character is well developed and written incredibly well, full of hope, desire, and fear that draws the reader into their lives.
The story is well paced, with an intriguing plot for both characters, that intersect and diverge multiple times, before closing in a beautiful and bittersweet ending.
I really loved this book, it was peaceful yet had adventure and espionage, an incredible blend of two genres.
Content warning for book: contains scene of police violence, and past miscarriage.