The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

This novel tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” nearly a century ago. It  traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war.