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  • Ashes and Sakura - front cover

Author: David Gormley-O'Brien

Published: August 2025

ISBN: 978-1-7641991-0-0

Paperback RRP: AUD $25.00

Kindle e-book: AUD $11.99 on Amazon

Kobo/Google Play epub file: $11.99

Set in the ruins of postwar Japan and the wheatfields of country Australia, Ashes and Sakura is a powerful story of love, guilt, and redemption.

When Australian soldier Tom Davis joins the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Hiroshima Prefecture, he hopes to atone for what he saw in the Pacific War. Amid the rubble and uneasy calm of 1946 Japan, he meets Natsuko Iwasa, a young woman trying to rebuild her life. Their bond defies the rules of the occupation and the scars of war that divide them.

Back home in New South Wales, Tom’s sister Evelyn faces her own reckoning. Pregnant to Giovanni, an Italian prisoner of war once assigned to their family farm, she must stand against her father and the small-town morality of postwar Australia.

Blending historical truth with deeply human drama, Ashes and Sakura explores Australia’s search for identity, the lingering shadows of the Second World War, and the fragile hope of rebuilding love from ruin.

A companion to An Attractive Naivety, it continues the Becoming Australia series by David Gormley-O’Brien, author and historian based in Victoria.

What readers are saying about Ashes and Sakura

5 star Ashes and sakura

Ashes and Sakura transports readers to post-war Japan and Australia, following the compelling stories of the characters first introduced in the first novel, An Attractive Naivety. Through their journeys, the reader discovers the ruins of Japan and the moral complexity of peace times. David Gormley-O’Brien once again gives us another brilliant history lesson, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and vividly recommend!

Manon Barbéris
5 star Ashes and sakura

It is a great read! The history is fascinating (and confronting) and the storyline compelling. I became quite attached to Tom, Misty and Evelyn, and have found myself wondering what might be next for them.
I’ve just realised that a friend’s father was part of the Occupation Force, so I’m sending him a copy — I think he’ll really enjoy it.
Thanks so much for another wonderful book.

Deidre
5 star Ashes and sakura

Enjoyed Ashes & Sakura.

Had a feel of authenticity of the era and an intriguing array of motivations/emotions of service personnel, families and individuals.

Economical approach - author chose not to wax lyrical about scenery, reflections and philosophical contemplation that some authors do (suits me!)

Thanks for shedding light on the little described time.

Bruce

Goodreads reviews

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