The Climate of the Country

A rare night's reprieve away from Tule Lake Japanese American Segregation Camp ends alarmingly for pacifist and conscientious objector Denton Jordan and his wife, Esther. They return to camp to find that martial law has been imposed. Forced to sign oaths of loyalty to the United States and to assure enmity toward the Japanese emperor, the camp's Japanese American adults riot out of anger and resentment. Tule Lake, which under Denton's careful guidance was once ""a place where imprisoned people made decent lives and a semblance of community for themselves"" during the exigencies of WWII, becomes harshly militarized: Japanese is not allowed to be spoken in public, driving is forbidden and a curfew is established. Denton's workaholic neglect of Esther and their three-year-old child threatens the stability of their relationship. Mueller's second novel (after Green Fires) begins awkwardly but soon transforms into an engrossing character study of two highly principled people forced by their patriotism and wartime duress to act against their beliefs--and at the expense of their marriage. Simple, unadorned prose illuminates the starkness of the setting and the ethical and emotional dilemmas faced by the protagonists. (Feb.) FYI: The author, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Choice, was herself born in Tule Lake Japanese American Segregation Camp.