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A GENTLEMAN FROM JAPAN

THE UNTOLD STORY OF AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY FROM ASIA TO QUEEN ELIZABETH’S COURT

The life story of an unlikely voyager from Japan provides a fascinating look into 16th-century geopolitics.

An account of a 16th-century enslaved Japanese man who endured abduction and hard labor among pirates to become the first documented Asian to learn English and set foot in North and South America and Britain.

Historian Lockley, co-author of African Samurai, found reports of "Christopher" from archived private diaries and letters and presents the young man's life as close to fact as possible. Enslaved by an Andalucian merchant in Manila, Christopher was bound aboard the Spanish ship Santa Ana in 1587 when it was overtaken in waters offshore Cabo San Lucas by English "privateers" working for an expedition led by Thomas Cavendish. As the author recounts, Christopher translated some prized booty into English: a map of China that formed the basis for charts later used by Westerners. Brought to England in 1588, he made a sensation in his “exotic robes” and "innate nobility,” and he was granted an audience with Queen Elizabeth. Lockley narrates parts of the story close to Christopher's perspective, emphasizing his discoveries and insights. For example, as a guest of London society, Christopher marveled that the English seldom bathed and lived with indoor animals. Pressed into service in Cavendish's next attempt to reach the Far East, he "almost definitely succumbed to the perils of the voyage," which was storm-tossed, violent, and, ultimately, doomed. However, in his adventures, Christopher inadvertently became a "pioneer in global travel, technology transfer, international relations, and cross-cultural communication." Lockley succeeds in focusing his history on the contributions of the "oppressed, trafficked and marginalized" who have otherwise left no record. In the process, he tells a lively tale of maritime adventure, piracy, and advancements in science and global economics. Extensive notes and bibliographies help fill in the political and cultural landscape.

The life story of an unlikely voyager from Japan provides a fascinating look into 16th-century geopolitics.

Pub Date: May 21, 2024

ISBN: 9781335016713

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

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THINK YOU'LL BE HAPPY

MOVING THROUGH GRIEF WITH GRIT, GRACE, AND GRATITUDE

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.

“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9780063304413

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperOne

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

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CALL ME ANNE

A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.

The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.

Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.

A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.

Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023

ISBN: 9781627783316

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Viva Editions

Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023

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