A bridge between us

Four generations of Japanese-American women make their home in a large house in San Francisco, united by the obligations of family and tradition and, perhaps, by love. In alternating chapters, Reiko, Rio, Tomoe and Nomi Hito speak with unflinching honesty about the secrets that have separated mother from daughter - and the fierce ties of intimacy that form an inextricable bridge between them. Matriarch Reiko Hito's forbidding, imperious manner masks the gentle, life-sustaining memories she cherishes of her loving immigrant father and the magical stories he told her about the mother she never…