Sophie and the Rising Sun [Paperback]

Augusta Trobaugh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

Salty Creek is a sleepy Georgia town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Strangers rarely enter their midst. When the mysterious Mr. Oto arrives in the spring of 1939, he immediately becomes the talk of the town.

A quiet, unassuming Japanese man with a secret history of his own, Mr. Oto meets Sophie soon after arriving in Salty Creek and immediately falls in love with her. Sophie, having lost her true love during World War I, spent her youth caring for her mother and maiden aunts. Now that they are gone, she has resigned herself to a lonely, passionless existence. That all begins to change as she finds herself drawn to Mr. Oto.

When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Mr. Oto's newfound life comes under siege and Sophie must decide how much she is willing to risk for a future with the man who has brought such joy into her life.

Sophie and the Rising Sun tells an unforgettable story of a time when the world lost its innocence-and of a town that finds its redemption in an extraordinary love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

art Remains of the Day, part wartime drama, this delicately written, somewhat didactic novel is set in Salty Creek, Ga., in the two years before Pearl Harbor. It focuses on Miss Anne, the moral center of the community, and on her recollection, years later, of the romance between town spinster Sophie and Grover Cleveland Oto, the California-born 50-year-old everyone thinks of as Miss Anne's "Chinese" gardener. Both Sophie and Oto harbor secrets. Sophie's is that the man she loved didn't return from WWI; Oto's is that happenstance and a Greyhound bus driver left him in Salty Creek, starved and in disgrace, far from his Japanese-American family. For two years the two are preternaturally aware of each other, but constrained from anything but brief, polite conversation. Each is a painter, and artistic imagination sustains both. In time, they fall into the habit of meeting at the riverbank on Sunday mornings with brushes and paper to work in companionable silence while the other townsfolk sing hymns at church. The requisite town snoop and the presence of Sophie and Anne's household help ensures that Oto and Sophie keep a formal distance, but as the author's lyrical flights intensify, so does the couple's suppressed passion. Then the war unleashes cruelty disguised as patriotism and forces Oto into hiding. As in her earlier novel Praise Jerusalem!, Trobaugh depicts in aching detail the isolation that racism occasions, and once again suggests the small but heartwarming triumphs made possible by human dignity and courage.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

It's 1941, and small-town spinster Sophie has fallen in love with a completely inappropriate fellow. Mr. Oto, a Japanese American gardener, years older, has captured her heart. The growth of their relationship is a gradual, tentative, even poetic event. However, the bombing of Pearl Harbor soon complicates this friendship. The townspeople of Sophie's Georgia burg are suspicious of outsiders and of any unconventional behavior. After the bombing, Mr. Oto must go into hiding while his landlady, Miss Anne, and Sophie both bravely conspire to hide and feed him. The end of the story brings the sudden disappearance of both Sophie and Mr. Oto, and it's up to readers to decide what this means for the protagonists. Trobaugh (Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb) has written another Southern novel featuring a beautiful and unusual love story. Recommended for all public libraries. Carol J. Bissett, New Braunfels P.L., TX
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Plume (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452283493
• ISBN-13: 978-0452283497
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A small Southern town on the eve of Pearl Harbor., March 3, 2003

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sophie and the Rising Sun (Paperback)

Sophie and the Rising Sun by Augusta Trobaugh is an excellent book which relates the effects of a strangers entrance into a Southern community. The year is 1939 when Mr. Oto, a Japanese man wanders into the town of Salty Creek Georgia. Arriving by bus, Mr. Oto is quite ill and is tended to by the local doctor. After he recovers Miss Anne, a kindly widow hires him as a gardener and offers him a place to live. As Mr. Oto he works hard and adjusts to his new life, he also tries to put behind him the shame and circumstances that led him to Salty Creek. One day while working, Mr. Oto sees a lovely woman walking by. In due time he learns that this is Miss Sophie, a Southern spinster lady who paints by the river. Following her one morning, Mr. Oto finds the courage to talk to her and these two unlikely people begin a relationship that will be severely tested and threatened when Pearl Harbor is attacked. Although most of the townspeople think Mr. Oto is Chinese, Miss Sophie knows the truth. As feelings of prejudice and tension towards anybody who looks foreign heats up in Salty Creek, Miss Sophie and Mr. Oto must made a decision that will forever change their lives.

This book, which speaks volumes about isolation and ostracism, is somewhat reminiscent of When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka and Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, both excellent novels. A well written, well presented novel, Miss Sophie and the Rising Sun will have reader finding themselves pausing to consider the plight of many who are born in this country but have ties to a foreign land. I do recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Augusta Trobuagh

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant book., November 12, 2001

By 

Leigh Melton (Dawsonville, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sophie and the Rising Sun: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you're looking for a pleasant, quick read, this is a a nice novel for a lazy afternoon. Since the Publisher's Weekly review above just about recounts the entire storyline, there's no need to cover that here. The book reads like a short story, with interesting characters stepping lightly through the story to give the book a surprisingly quick pace.

For those who have ever lived in the rural South, you'll recognize these characters (you may even be related to some of them). Trobaugh is obviously fond of the people she portrays, and that takes some of the sting out of the less noble qualities they possess.

While it's not a "I couldn't put it down" sort of novel, it is a very pleasant read, a sweet story and written in an intimate style. I liked the book quite a bit.

I've read rumors that the book is to be made into a film, with the role of Mr. Oto played by Chow Yun-Fat. I can't think of a better vehicle for him. Let's hope this is one rumor which turns out to be true.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sophie & the Rising Sun, February 7, 2003

By 

Sandra Mitchell "Sandra Mitchell" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sophie and the Rising Sun (Paperback)

As a huge fan of Trobaugh's other novel, Swan Place, I was delighted to find that Sophie & the Rising Sun has the same charming qualities and great writing that I loved so much.

Sophie & the Rising Sun will take you to a small town in Georgia, where part of southern life, includes everyone in town knowing your business. Alternate chapters are told from the voice of Miss Anne, a widow, who takes in dear Mt. Oto, a foreigner who wound up in this all white community. Mr. Oto is Asian and cares for Miss Anne's garden. He comes to be adored by several members of town, who are such loving characters, you will fall in love with each of them. Unfortunately, every town has a gossip, and Miss Ruth is no exception, creating all sorts of trouble.

Sophie & the Rising Sun is a love story, but it is also a story of compassion, accepting the differences in others, and small town life. It is a quick, easy read, but with a lot of substance and lasting impressions.