Charley Pearson

Ripple in the Sea Charley Pearson

RIPPLE IN THE SEA is a coming-of-age story of espionage and betrayal, guilt and redemption, set amid the brutality of the Pacific War.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The FBI arrests seventeen-year-old KRISTY HARA's immigrant Japanese parents. Horrified over the dishonor of her mother's treason, terrified since the FBI thinks she helped, Kristy flees on a neutral merchant freighter.

Off a Japanese-occupied island, a U. S. submarine sinks the ship. The sub rescues Kristy and Executive Officer MAISON accuses her of spying. She agrees she should be a spy-for the U. S., to prove herself and atone for her mother's crime. Kristy escapes the sub, telling Maison she'll "have something" if he ever returns.

On the island, Kristy pretends to be the weak-minded survivor of a shipwreck. She investigates the island and discovers the mutilation and murder of American prisoners of war (POWs). Kristy rescues her first soldier. Nearly caught, she sacrifices her virginity to distract the local commandant. She frees soldier after soldier, hiding them while they accuse her of playing "Jap mind games." She kills to prevent her men being found.

Running away, acting the whore, murder-and treason, unwittingly aiding her mother . . . Kristy sees nothing worthy in herself. So she keeps doing one remarkable thing after another, not understanding her own bravery.

And that's only the start of things. A unique, historically accurate portrait of civilian life in wartime Japan.