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The Children of Hiroshima

The True Story Of How I Searched For My Family In The Ruins Of The City
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Brief Description
The little boy did not cry or speak. He just stood there and stared at me intensely. With great effort I stood up and tested to see if I could walk with my injured foot. When I did, he came to stand even closer to me... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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The incredible, heart-breaking and poignant diary of a woman searching for her niece and nephew in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The little boy did not cry or speak. He just stood there and stared at me intensely. With great effort I stood up and tested to see if I could walk with my injured foot. When I did, he came to stand even closer to me and, without saying a word, grabbed my little finger very tightly.

Sadako Teiko Okuda was living in Osaki-shimo, an island off the mainland of Japan, when the bomb hit Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945. Even sixty kilometres from the city, it was clear something horrific had happened. There was a blinding flash and the window next to Sadako smashed, a shard of glass leaving a painful burn on her neck. Soon, news came that her niece and nephew who lived in Hiroshima were missing. There was only one thing she could doβ€”leave the relative safety of the island and set off into the city to find them.

In the seven long days that followed, Sadako roamed the ruins of the city, desperately hoping that she would catch sight of her family and in the meantime coming across dozens of other children who were alone, distraught and in pain. Carrying only water and a little medicine, she did her best to nurse the children and offer what care, compassion, and tenderness she could in unimaginable circumstances. And in turn, they helped her to find hope in the very darkest of times.

Told simply and powerfully in daily diary entries, The Children of Hiroshima is an extraordinary and deeply moving human story of loss, innocence, and hope.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781800963009

Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 08 May 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Monoray

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 179g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, in 1914, Okuda was teaching sewing on a small island some 35 miles off Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Even from that distance, both her sight and hearing on her right side were permanently damaged. From 1960 and until her retirement, she taught home economics at a non-traditional high school in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.

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  • The Children of Hiroshima
    The little boy did not cry or speak. He just stood there and stared at me intensely. With great effort I stood up and tested to see if I could walk with my injured foot. When I did, he came to stand even closer to me and, without saying a word, grabbed my little finger very tightly. Sadako Teiko Okuda...
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