Midori by Moonlight, Tokunaga, Wendy Nelson (Author) ISBN: 0312372612 St. Martin's Griffin Paperback, $13.95 (256p)
Aspiring
Cinderella Midori Saito does not heed her mother's warning-"Running off with
a foreigner will bring you nothing but trouble"-in Tokunaga's delectably
frothy debut. Trouble is exactly what Midori finds after following English
teacher Kevin Newbury from her native Japan to San Francisco, where Prince
Charming quickly becomes Prince Alarming after a nightmarish engagement
party. After Kevin dumps her to return to his ex-girlfriend, Midori doesn't
want to tell her parents or return to Japan, although with little savings,
no green card and only a temporary visa, she may have to. Fortunately,
Kevin's old friend Shinji Nishimura, who met Midori at the ill-fated party,
offers Midori refuge while she figures out her next moves-she's a talented
baker-and Shinji ponders his. Tokunaga, author of the self-published No
Kidding, depicts Midori's determination to create her own version of the
American dream with exuberance.