So Far from the Bamboo Grove is a story about strength, perseverance, and personal victory. At the start of the novel, Yoko, her sister Ko, and her brother Hideyo live with their mother in Nanam, North Korea, during a time of political upheaval when hostilities are raging between the Koreans and the Japanese. It is 1945, and word has just reached Korea that Japan is losing the war.

Tokyo has been bombed, Russian communist troops have invaded North Korea, and angry Koreans have vowed revenge against the Japanese for years of political oppression. The Japanese people living in Korea must flee for their lives, and as the family of a Japanese government official, Yoko and her mother and sister are among the first to flee. Devastated and frightened, the three of them embark on a harrowing journey. In describing that journey Watkins tells a poignant tale of...