October 19, 2008
Marie's essay, Letter from a Japanese Crematorium, was cited as distinguished in the 2008 Best American Essays.
March 27th, 2009
Marie has accepted an offer from Graywolf Press, which will publish her debut novel, Picking Bones from Ash, in the fall of 2009. The novel description is as follows:
"My mother always said that there is only one way a woman can be truly safe in this world. And that is to be fiercely, inarguably and masterfully talented."
Eleven-year-old Satomi has always used her gift of music to shield herself and her beautiful and unmarried mother, Akiko, from their neighbors. No one knows who fathered Satomi, and the village women in the traditional 1950’s mountain town of Kuma-Ume find Akiko’s restless sensuality a threat. Satomi’s talent has always saved her and her mother from complete ostracism.
But when Akiko’s growing ambition for her daughter tests the boundaries of this delicate social balance, Satomi’s gift is not enough protect them. Seeking sanctuary, Akiko marries a wealthy suitor, but in doing so, unleashes unintended consequences on her daughter. Satomi, at war with her new family, must eventually choose between extremes: love and obligation, and freedom in the newly accessible west and the comfort of her native culture. Eventually she will be pushed to make a drastic decision in order to begin her life anew.
Years later, Satomi’s choice echoes in the life of her daughter, Rumi. Growing up in San Francisco, Rumi has talents of her own. Trained since childhood to authenticate antiques by her father, Francois, Rumi believes she can "hear" if objects are real or not; fakes simply strike her like a "wrong note in a song." She has always believed her mother died shortly after her birth, but a visit in 1990 from Timothy Snowden, a strange American Buddhist priest who claims to have known and loved Satomi, prompts Rumi to question her assumptions. When she begins to see and hear a ghost in her Victorian home, Rumi wonders: is this the ghost of her mother? If so, what happened to Satomi?
With grim determination, Rumi uncovers the insidious nature of family secrets—and the power these secrets have to cross oceans and cultures. As the stories of mother and daughter intersect, it will be up to Rumi to relieve the burdens of several generations of women.