"Spanning generations and continents, The Turtle House is a gorgeous, wise, and assured debut. Amanda Churchill sweeps us through the twentieth century to find, on the other side of war, grief, and isolation, the lasting comfort of family—of home.” — Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth
"A heartbreakingly resonant debut, The Turtle House is a tender, big-hearted story about women, family, and the complicated history of Texas. These characters, and their tentative, flawed stumblings toward grace, will stay with me." — Elizabeth Wetmore, author of Valentine
"Sweeping yet intimate, Amanda Churchill’s Turtle House spans cultures and continents. Minnie and her granddaughter Lia are unforgettable protagonists, whose grit and grace will inspire you. Together, they find a way through in this gripping debut." — Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City
“An impressively wrought series of settings, from prewar provincial Japan, to wartime housing on a U.S. Army base, to small-town postwar America…. In each of these places, Churchill highlights the challenges faced by girls and women, from oppressive cultural norms to domestic violence and sexual harassment. She deftly manages a very large cast of characters and a complicated plot. This lovingly illuminated double portrait asks us to think about what has changed and what has not, and at what cost.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A stunning coming-of-age that shifts through time and touches upon different generations. Churchill’s characters will resonate with readers of all ages.” — Debutiful
“Churchill’s multigenerational tale of instinct, courage, and unexpected connections will delight fans of Zoe Fishman's Inheriting Edith (2016) and Helen Fisher’s Faye Faraway (2021). By allowing both narrators to share their stories, Churchill paints a full and compelling picture of rebirth, renewal, and redemption.” — Booklist
"In this tale about war and family secrets, twentysomething Lia Cope suddenly moves back to tiny Curtain, Texas, but won’t tell anyone what she’s running from. In late-night conversations, her grandmother Mineko talks about her childhood in Japan and the war that brought her to the U.S. At first neither woman understands the other, but as Lia and Mineko grow closer they eventually realize they might change each other’s lives. The Turtle House was inspired by Churchill’s grandmother, a Japanese war bride." — Texas Monthly
“Written with a genuine, aching tenderness that brings both Mineko and her journey to vibrant life.” — Dallas Morning News
“Meticulously researched." — Washington Post
"This exceptional debut novel honors Amanda Churchill’s real grandmother, a Japanese war bride who relocated to a vast Texas ranch in the 1950s. The Turtle House is filled with bighearted characters, delightful storytelling, and precise prose." — Christian Science Monitor
"The Turtle House is an intergenerational story, yes, but instead of centering on inherited traumas, it focuses, rather, on the potential for strength and resilience in an uncontrollable world.” — Alta
2023-12-06
A multigenerational family saga set in World War II Japan and contemporary rural Texas.
Churchill’s debut unfolds in parallel the stories of an immigrant Japanese woman and her American granddaughter. Mineko’s story begins in Kadoma, a district of Osaka, in the summer of 1936, when the little girl discovers a beautiful abandoned estate on a hill, its entrance presided over by a stone turtle, with a pond full of live turtles out back. Over the years, this becomes her special place, a refuge for the athletic, bright young woman who’s gotten none of the beauty her mother and sister share. When she meets an upper-class boy named Akio, it’s at this “turtle house” where she teaches him to swim, and where they fall in love, though his future holds an arranged marriage and, even more threatening, the wartime draft. In parallel chapters set in Curtain, Texas, in 1999, we see Mineko as “Grandminnie,” relating her stories into a tape recorder for her 25-year-old granddaughter, Lia, who’s back home after abruptly quitting her first job out of architecture school under mysterious circumstances. The two are sharing a bedroom at Lia’s parents’ house, since Grandminnie’s own home has burned to the ground, also under mysterious circumstances. Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, Mineko’s story illuminates an impressively wrought series of settings, from prewar provincial Japan, to wartime housing on a U.S. Army base, to small-town postwar America. Meanwhile, Lia’s story takes us to architecture school at the University of Texas at Austin. In each of these places, Churchill highlights the challenges faced by girls and women, from oppressive cultural norms to domestic violence and sexual harassment. She deftly manages a very large cast of characters and a complicated plot.
This lovingly illuminated double portrait asks us to think about what has changed and what has not, and at what cost.