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Chapter 1 Evacuation Order No. 19

• WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE is the story of a Japanese-American family from Berkeley, California, who was forced to relocate to internment camps during World War II.

• The novel begins in the spring of 1942 as the family is preparing to report for internment.

• Signs all over town have instructed all people of Japanese descent to prepare to be relocated, so when the mother of the family sees this, she goes home to pack.
• The woman visits a hardware store to buy tape and twine and the store owner is especially kind in deference to her distressing situation.

• The woman separates the family's possessions between things they will take and those to be stored in the sunroom of the house.

• The sign about relocation says that pets cannot accompany the internees, so she gives the cat to the neighbors and kills the old dog by...

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