PEARL HARBOR BLUES by Victoria Heckman
It all began (for me) when I moved to Hawai’i to attend the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. It was love at first sight. I felt I had come home. Everything about Hawai’i felt natural and comfortable, like I belonged there. I stayed for many years, my children were born there, and when I decided to write my first novel, of course, it would be set there. Fast forward about 10 years. While living there, I went to the Arizona Memorial about once a year. I couldn’t stay away. It always touched me that I found both American and Japanese military standing side by side, not speaking, but both quietly paying their respects, lost in the past, perhaps. They were always old, at least to me at that time, and I knew from the bits of discussion I would hear before and after the visit, they were part of that war. Another puzzle piece was that I thought I might c...