Alma Mendel Belasco

Alma Belasco is the main character of this novel. Alma was sent from her family’s home in Warsaw to live with her aunt and uncle in California when Alma’s parents began hearing rumors there would be a war fought in Europe. Alma latched onto Nathaniel when he and his parents met her boat at the dock. The two soon formed a close friendship. Alma also became close friends with Ichimei, the son of the Japanese man who tended the garden at Sea Cliff. During the years that Ichimei and his family were imprisoned at Topaz, a concentration camp for Japanese Americans, Ichimei and Alma kept in touch with one another through letters. After she graduated from secondary school in California, Alma went to college in Boston. She’d almost given up on her secondary education when she decided she wanted a career in art...