Jennifer Cody Epstein depicts the firebombing of Tokyo and concurrent events in unflinching but delicately rendered detail. Immaculately researched and deeply imagined, this is an astonishing novel whose battles and intimate encounters alike carry the force of electric jolt. I have never read anything else like it.--Angela Davis-Gardner, author of Butterfly's Child
A page-turner thanks to its high-stakes adventure, torrid love affairs and characters so real they seem to follow you around...Gripping.-- "O, The Oprah Magazine"
Sweeping...[A] harrowing novel of destruction and creation.-- "Library Journal (starred review)"
Expansive...Bursting with characters and locales. Painful, authentic...and exquisite.-- "Publishers Weekly"
I dare you to read this and not be swept up. The Gods of Heavenly Punishment is shocking and delicate in equal measure.--Debra Dean, author of The Mirrored World and The Madonnas of Leningrad
Beautifully researched and evoked, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment brings to haunting, dramatic life one of the most destructive acts of warfare ever perpetrated. In its passion and sweep, this lovely book does artful justice to the profound, contradictory connections between victims and victors, public histories and private lives.--John Burnham Schwartz, author of The Commoner and Reservation Road
Triumphant...Big, visceral, achingly humane.--Jennifer Egan
With the drama and sweep of The English Patient and a rich, painterly sensibility all her own, Jennifer Cody Epstein has created an indelible portrait of the war in the Pacific, seen through the eyes of six characters whose stories will haunt you long after the final brush stroke.--Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound