The riveter A novel

Wang's (We Two Alone, 2021) debut novel is the story of Josiah Chang, the eponymous riveter, and his blue-eyed, star-crossed lover, Poppy. Josiah grew up the son of a logger in Canada's Cariboo Mountains. No stranger to racial discrimination, Josiah was never afraid of hard work and the challenge to prove himself the best of the best. WWII provided a proving ground. Josiah's strength and determination resulted in him qualifying for special operations and leaving his life as a riveter--and his life with Poppy. Their relationship and Poppy's patience are stretched to their limits; she expresses feelings of betrayal as someone who "had agreed to one life and been left with another." Short chapters sketch the romance between Josiah and Poppy, flipping from their life before war to paratrooper training to bloody battles in the European theatre to wartime meetings and eventual reckoning. Readers of historical romance and tales of forbidden love will be satisfied by Wang's writing and its infusion of Canadian history, geography, and point of view.

In this exemplary historical, a Chinese Canadian man fights prejudice and falls in love during WWII. Josiah Chang, who's unable to join the army because of his race, finds work as a riveter in a Vancouver shipyard in 1942. There, he meets yard worker Poppy Miller, who is also a nightclub singer. They fall hard for each other, and Poppy accepts his marriage proposal, even though her parents refuse to give their consent. After Josiah hears a rumor of other Chinese men successfully enlisting on the east coast, he takes a train to Toronto and signs up to be a paratrooper. After training, he is sent to England and takes part in the invasion of Normandy. Fighting his way through France, Holland, and Germany, Josiah transforms from a raw recruit to a veteran soldier. Along the way, he sees comrades die horribly and witnesses barbaric acts, but he never loses sight of his ultimate goal: to be worthy of Poppy. The author successfully combines the entertainment of an old-fashioned war story with a crystalline view of the period's racism, offering a genuinely touching romance between Josiah and Poppy and visceral scenes of training and battle. Fans of WWII fiction will devour this. (Feb.)

A debut novel of love, culture, and war. In Kamloops, British Columbia, a young Chinese Canadian man wants to fight for a country that does not accept him. Josiah Chang is a lumberjack, or "faller," with his father, until the father is killed in an accident. Josiah then finds a job as a riveter building cargo ships at the beginning of World War II, and he falls in love with Poppy Miller, a white woman. Poppy wants to marry him and settle down, though if she does, Canada will strip her of her citizenship. Over her objections, Josiah also wants to fight for his country, but Chinese Canadians can't join the military. He persists, heading east to another province and eventually finding a recruiter who accepts him because of his obvious physical fitness. He trains as a paratrooper, the only Chinese Canadian in his unit. Across the miles, Poppy and Josiah exchange letters and remain faithful to each other despite temptations. He feels he has a lot to prove to himself and to a country that rejects him as an equal. Paratrooper training is demanding, and many trainees wash out, but Josiah is determined to be the best of the best. His unit, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, is assigned to land at Normandy as part of the great invasion of Europe, and survival is a matter of chance: "If you lived, you were glad and carried on." Paratroopers are shot to death on their way down or get snagged in trees before they can defend themselves. The bravest of men can be gone in a heartbeat, but Josiah and his unit fight on. "Stay alive for her," he muses during a lull in combat. He kills as he must while trying to retain a sense of honor, which doesn't stop him from shooting a rapist between the eyes. But this novel is about more than war; it is about love and loyalty, acceptance, and clash of cultures. Will Josiah survive the war? Will Poppy wait for him? They are both sympathetic characters readers will root for. The tale has its roots in history: There was in fact only one Chinese Canadian in that battalion, although many more fought in other units. Josiah is fighting for more than simply defeating Hitler, as African American soldiers also did with distinction. All Josiah wants from Canada is full citizenship and the right to vote. A compelling and emotional read. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.