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Someone Will Conquer Them
Elizabeth Kata
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Mary Ogata, the American wife of a Japanese scientist, finds herself under house arrest in a mountain village during the Second World War with her steadfast and stubborn servant Suzuki. Enduring suffering at the hands of the sadistic Captain Tanaka who is tormented by desire for the woman he hates, Mary's miserable existence is suddenly disrupted when she helps to conceal a wounded American airman in her cottage. Mary, Suzuki, and the easy-going black market trader Ludi Hoffer, must now elude the investigations of police officer Noguchi in order to protect the airman and themselves. But will Noguchi's beguiling daughter unravel their secret? And how will their fortunes change in the aftermath of the atomic bomb and the destruction of Hiroshima?
In Someone Will Conquer Them, first published in 1962, Kata draws on her own experience of life in wartime Japan, and brings to life a dynamic cast of characters, each unique yet united by a common humanity in spite of cultural differences and the hardships of war. The defeat and subsequent occupation of Japan serves as a backdrop to Mary Ogata's own journey to understanding friendship, love, and, ultimately, herself.
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First published November 19, 2015
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Elizabeth Katayama (1912 – 4 September 1998) was an Australian writer under the pseudonym Elizabeth Kata, best known for Be Ready with Bells and Drums (1961), which was made into the award-winning film A Patch of Blue (1965).
She was born of Scottish parents in Sydney in 1912. After marrying a Japanese man named Katayama in 1937, she lived for ten years in Japan. During the last years of World War II she was interned at the mountain resort village of Karuizawa, Nagano. She returned to Australia in 1947 with her baby son, battling the Australian Government for permission.
As well as writing novels, she also wrote for television and several Hollywood scripts. Her first novel, Be Ready with Bells and Drums (written in 1959, first published in 1961), was produced as the film A Patch of Blue (1965). Shelley Winters playing the role of Rose-Ann D'Arcey won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Guy Green, who directed, also adapted Kata's book and his screenplay was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award. After the success of the film, the novel was re-released as A Patch of Blue. The book was for many years included in the "school book list" both in the US and Australia. The book Mrs Katayama and Her Splash of Blue (2010, Independence Jones), covers how Elizabeth Kata's first book became the film A Patch of Blue.
Elizabeth Katayama died in Sydney in 1998.
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In the authentic Japanese background of the time immediately before and after Hiroshima, the exciting pattern of events in...
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SOMEONE WILL CONQUER THEM
by Elizabeth Kata ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 1962
In the authentic Japanese background of the time immediately before and after Hiroshima, the exciting pattern of events in this second novel (her first, Be Ready With Bells and Drums, see 1961, p. 560) is impressively overshadowed by the well drawn characters involved. The American Mary Ogata and her weak feminine self-concern; honorable old Suzuki San, faithful and practical servant; German-Portuguese Ludi Hoffer, a brazen mixture of black market beneficence and cynical male strength; and Noguchi, the diligent, estimable police inspector--such are the graphic representatives of different nations and personalities that are brought together in a wartime village of foreigners.
Mary is unable to rise to the dramatic occasion when Ludi brings a wounded American flyer to recuperate secretly in her house. Self-pitying because of her unsuccesful ""kimono marriage"" to a Japanese and her penalty for a minor food illegality inflicted by Captain Tanaka, who tortures and desires her, Mary cannot meet the challenge of Ludi's love either. Although she kills Captain Tanaka in a frantic moment, the ensuing investigation proceeds unsuccessfully only because of Ludi's and Suzuki's wary cleverness. In the unraveling after the war, Ludi becomes an American liaison officer; and Mary decides to return home, but, in a last minute impromptu, remains to convince Ludi that she is worthy of his love.
The plot is smooth; the American A-Bomb and Occupation against the old Japanese backdrop, unsentimental and genuine; but the novel's real merit is the characters--who make vividly enjoyable fiction.
Pub Date: Sept. 18, 1962
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1962
Categories: FICTION
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