In a world ravaged by conflict and loss, Etsuko Diamond Miyagi’s memoir, Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan is a shining testament to the beauty of love and the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity.
Etsuko enjoys a peaceful childhood on the Philippine island of Mindanao, where her father owns an abacá plantation. But they are not safe when guerilla forces destroy her village murdering everyone and leaving her as the sole survivor. This deeply personal narrative of grief chronicles Etsuko’s harrowing journey to find solace and joy after the death of her parents.
At first, passed from house to house, Etsuko is forced to work as a domestic servant until a kind family takes her in. However, her safety and survival is once again in danger when she’s forced to leave her adopted family and take a position at Chief Doming Apostol’s estate in Magpet. It is there Etsuko receives the name ‘Diamond.’
Diamond works for years in the Apostol household where not all is terrible. She forms a loving bond as the caretaker for the youngest of the children. When their father is imprisoned, the household falls apart, but Diamond stays.
In part, she has nowhere else to go, but mostly she stays for the children, abandoned by Doming’s wife after her husband’s incarceration.
Three years later, Chief Doming returns, and Diamond officially becomes the children’s nanny—then Doming’s wife. Their marriage grows into a deep love, with many children added to the family. Political tensions during the 1960s and 1970s again threaten Diamond’s life. When tragedy strikes she again puts the safety and survival of her family first.
The countless pressures and hard work in spite of them results in a strength created in much the same way as Diamond’s namesake.
Decades after the devastating war and displacement that took her family, Diamond encounters a Japanese couple searching for their own long lost family members and, through them, she discovers information that fills in the gaps in her younger life. She learns where she came from, whether or not any family members still exist, and her birthname—Etsuko Miyagi.
Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan shines as a richly composed memoir of inner strength and resilient love.
With raw and evocative prose, Miyagi recounts the quagmire of heartache and despair of her early years. But she also reveals the remarkable path her life takes towards healing and happiness. Through vivid storytelling and introspection, Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan offers an inspiring exploration of how one can find light in the darkest of times and emerge to show their soul’s true brilliance.
Fans of memoirs and historical non-fiction will be satisfied and astonished by Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan. Etsuko’s story plays out in the aftermath of World War II, and with many such books focusing on Europe alone, Diamond provides a crucial historical insight into the long-term effects of a global conflict on the people of Southeast Asia.
Etsuko Diamond Miyagi tells the true story of the creation of a diamond who finds a way to glow bright with love and humility.
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