Nancy Bo Flood,
Warriors in the Crossfire
Front Street, 2010.

Ages 14+

Joseph and Kento are cousins growing up in different family circumstances on the tiny Pacific island of Saipan during World War II. Joseph’s father is the village chief and clan leader; Kento’s is a Japanese civil servant, a member of the occupying administration of the island.  As the war in the Pacific intensifies, the indigenous people of Saipan find themselves caught up in the fighting between the Japanese and the Americans.

The book opens with an electrifying sequence.  Joseph and Kento, in defiance of both the curfew and their fathers, canoe out beyond the reef to hunt turtle. Their excursion, which does not proceed according to plan, can be seen in retrospect as a metaphor for the wider history in which they are caught up. The war seems remote, which has made the boys reckless, but as it encroaches further, the difference between Joseph and Kento’s situations is thrown into higher relief: yet the reader will perhaps discern that, as each of them tries to be true to his own warrior tradition, namely the native Rapaganor and the Japanese Samurai, they each contribute to the strength they need for survival.

When the island is invaded, Joseph does his father’s bidding and takes his mother, his sister and his small nephew to seek refuge in a secret cave. However, something the novel conveys very well is that nowhere is safe when a battle is being fought around you and fear is a constant companion.  Joseph knows how to forage for food and water but the book of Basho poems that his Japanese sensei secretly gave to him is also a life-saver.  Joseph not only has to bring all his father has taught him to bear on their situation, he has to interpret and adapt it too.  And will his friendship with Kento survive?  The climax of the story is devastating – all the more so because, even if the characters themselves are fictitious, it is based on true events – and will have readers on the edge of their seats.

The beautiful short poems which introduce each chapter throw the story open to a more general indictment of the consequences of conflict. Nancy Bo Flood’s vivid picture of life on Saipan in the 1940s sensitively portrays the tensions between the native and occupying Japanese cultures at a time of turmoil in the island’s history. She paints a terrible and realistic picture of the consequences of war for those who have no say in it but find themselves caught up in conflict.

Although the book’s two main characters are boys, the likeable, well-rounded characters, including both their sisters, make Warriors in the Crossfire a great read for girls as well as boys. I defy either not to shed a tear or have their heart in their mouth at various points during this riveting read.

Marjorie Coughlan
June 2010