Sophie and the Rising Sun by
Augusta Trobaugh is a short, sweet, and simple romantic novel taking place during World War II. Part of the story is being told by Miss Anne, a kind and quietly unconventional woman; she doesn't know all the details, however, so the rest is filled in for us. The story is of Sophie, a woman raised by her strict mother and aunts, and whose only real indiscretion being her love for a young man who never returned from the Great War. Then there is Mr Oto, a first-generation American who was sent from California to New York with funds to bring back a relative who had come over from Japan. He loses the money, but too ashamed to face his family, he makes his way south, where he ends up in the small town of Salty Creek, Georgia. Mr Oto is a soft-spoken and respectful gentleman, and soon becomes friends with Miss Anne, who has hired him as her gardener. Every day as he works in the flowerbeds, he sees Sophie walk by the house, and it is not long before he is completely infatuated with her. The two grow very close over time, as they meet every Sunday in the same spot by the river to paint.
Things change very quickly, though, when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Everyone in town except Miss Anne and Sophie have been under the assumption that he is Chinese, but they know it likely won't be long before the growing anger toward the Japanese causes them to react anyway. He is already not the most well-liked individual, what with being colored in the pre-Civil Rights South, and Miss Anne fears for his safety. She makes a plan to hide him, and makes up a story that he's gone to Canada to be with his family. The lies weigh heavily on her, and Mr Oto wonders whether he will see Sophie again.
