The Foot Of The Cherry tree

 By: Alli Parker 

Location: FIC PAR

Genre:  Historical Fiction, War, Japan, Australia

A stirring story of love and hope, based on the incredible true story of Australia's first Japanese war bride and a love that changed a nation forever.


Gordon Parker is just an eager eighteen-year-old Australian boy desperate to fight for his country, and Nobuko 'Cherry' Sakuramoto is a sixteen-year-old girl struggling to survive in Japan in the aftermath of World War II. But when they fall in love, they change the course of history.

When Gordon arrived in Japan, he expected ruthless samurai, angry Japanese men ready to kill Australians at every corner. Instead, he found Cherry, terrified of ex-enemy soldiers, a 16-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb. Against all the rules and against all odds, they fall in love. But when Gordon discovers the White Australia Policy prevents Cherry coming home with him as his war bride, Gordon does what any 20-year-old soldier would do. He vows to fight. Leaving Cherry alone and pregnant in post-war Japan, Gordon somehow has to convinces his family to accept his marriage and wage a desperate campaign against a xenophobic and war-scarred government to allow his wife and his family to come home.

A story spanning seven years and two countries reeling from the aftermath of war, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree is a sweeping and moving novel about faith, trust, and the power of a love that alters history - 

A review by Natsha Lester and that makes it very worth the read

Absolutely loved it!

Parker tells a fictionalised story of her grandparents, an Australian soldier and a Japanese woman, who meet in Kure, Japan, in 1946 and fall in love, which is against all the rules at the time. What follows is a true story of resilience as the two young lovers try to change the minds of the Australian government and the Australian people about the White Australia policy.

Parker’s grandmother was the first Japanese war bride to be permitted to enter Australia, a process that took eight long years. It’s both a fascinating and heartbreaking tale of prejudice and stubbornness – thankfully Cherry and Gordon’s stubbornness is the victor here and also a catalyst for a too-slow change in attitudes towards immigration in Australia.