A Gesture Life

A Gesture Life is a haunting, compelling exploration of the Japanese experience of the Second World War, and the fate of their ‘comfort women’.

‘You make a while life out of gestures and politeness,’ Sunny tells her adoptive father, Franklin Hata. Franklin deflects everyone with courtesy and impenetrable decorum, becoming a respected elder of his small, prosperous American town.

As Sunny tries to unpick her father’s scrupulous self-control, the story he has repressed emerges: his life as a medic in the Japanese army and his love for a Korean woman forced into sexual service for the troops.