2015: Alma Belasco is a wealthy octogenarian who moves into a home. She is still quite active, and she’s asked Irina Bazili to become her personal assistant. Irina is a traumatised immigrant from Moldova who also works in the bohemian care home as a carer, and on the weekends she helps a friend groom dogs. Alma’s grandson Seth has fallen in love with Irina, but she’s too damaged to even consider a relationship. However, the two become close friends and bond over Alma’s mysterious disappearances, the letters and gardenias she receives.
1939: Alma Mendel’s parents send her to San Francisco to live with her wealthy aunt Lillian and uncle Isaac Belasco while they remain in Poland. Alma’s brother Samuel had previously been sent to England where he later joined the RAF to help fight the Germans. As Alma is only 8 years old in 1939, they send her to the States with a chaperone, her governess Miss Honeycomb. Soon after they arrive in San Francisco, Miss Honeycomb leaves, and with her some family jewels disappear as well.
Alma becomes fast friends with her cousin Nathaniel and the gardener’s son Ichimei Fukuda. When Nathaniel is bullied in school, he retreats into his own world, and Alma grows closer to Ichimei. Alma vows to marry Ichimei when they grow up. Then the Fukudas are sent to an internment camp, and though Ichimei writes in the beginning, the letters become more sparse as their internment continues. Ichimei’s eldest brother Charles enlists in the US army and dies fighting in the war. His other brother James refuses to pledge his allegiance to the United States and is deported to Japan – his fate is unknown. Ichimei and his sister Megumi both survive the war and they with their parents in Arizona as they are blocked from returning to California initially.
As the book switches between current day (2015) and the past, we learn that Alma and Ichimei have a love affair that spans 70 years. Though they both marry other people, they remain in love with each other for the entire time. Alma marries her cousin Nathaniel when she falls pregnant with Ichimei’s baby. At this time it was illegal for them to marry, so Nathaniel steps up and marries his cousin. We find out later that Nathaniel loves Alma, but he’s also in love with another, who is equally unattainable for him as Ichimei is for Alma.
I really enjoyed this book. I was rooting for Seth to capture Irina’s heart, as well as Alma and Ichimei. It was kind of sad that they didn’t end up marrying each other after Nathaniel’s death (Ichimei’s wife was still alive), but the fact that they remained in love for 70 years was cool. In Alma’s marriage, there was no real obstacle as Nathaniel knew about her and Ichimei before they married, and it was a marriage of convenience for both of them. But I did feel sorry for Ichimei’s wife who – I assume – did not know about this epic love affair and was always playing second fiddle.
Read for the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 1: A book where gardening or a garden is central to the plot
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
