Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai

"In 1931, the Japanese government overtook the northern part of China and declared it an independent state called Manchukuo with the last emperor of China - Puyi - as the Kangde Emperor of Manchuria. The government of the newly founded Manchuria created a slogan 'Five Races Under One Union.' ... However, in reality, Manchukuo was a puppet state controlled by the Japanese government."

"As a state policy, Japan encouraged its citizens - especially impoverished villages and second and third sons of farmer - to relocate to Manchuria ... to provide much needed natural resources for the mainland. With the promise of a better life ... over three million Japanese civilians ... lived outside of Japan."

In 1945 Soviet Armed Forces broke into the Manchurian border. The Japanese Imperial Army had retreated and so the people had to flee, walking because trains were not running and they had no access to cars. Many died before and on the journey and also when they arrived in cities from malnutrition. Some people felt forced to give away their children to Chinese families in the hope they would survive. 

This book, which is told in the form of a verse novel, is the story of twelve-year-old Natsu and her little sister who with a neighbour they call Auntie are forced to fee their home and endure the most harrowing of journeys in the hope of finding safety and also their father who has been conscripted. 

This is not a book for young readers. I would say it is for ages 13+. 

Literary and historically insightful, this is one of the great untold stories of WWII. Much like the Newbery Honor book Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Mariko Nagai's Under the Broken Sky is powerful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful. A book and a hug

Inside out and Back again

Here are two text quotes to give you a flavour of the writing in Under the Broken Sky. As with all of the best verse novels this book is filled with emotion. When Natsu was cold I felt cold. When she was starving I felt her aching hunger. Her pain and fear and despair will linger with me for a long time.

Running

We don't lock the door.
We don't release the chickens

from the hen house.

We don't board up the windows.

Holding Asa's hand,

I run out of the homestead ...

Run if anything happens.

And something is happening.

The Rest

We sit as one.
No one has anything

left to eat,

even our stomachs

have forgotten about us.

We've been carrying empty

canteens for so many days,
and we've been swallowing

spit in our mouths.

We don't know if we are

hungry or thirsty or tired.

We just lie there,

in damp clothes,

hoping that a train 

will come this way ...