Megan is a ten-year-old biracial girl growing up in a small town in the southeastern corner of Washington state in the early 1960s. Megan has the usual struggles of growing up that most children have, but her concerns are complicated with the reality that she is half-Japanese and half-white. She also struggles with one concern that is unique to her, understanding why her mother, Hitomi, is overly protective and hovering, so different from the mothers of her friends. The mystery grows when she discovers her sister, a sister she never knew existed until she finds pictures of her mother standing with a little Asian girl she had never seen before in front of a drab and desolate looking building somewhere in an empty and arid landscape.

On the back of the picture is written, "Minidoka, 1943".

My Mother Told Me Stories is a heart wrenching story of loss, tragedy, and one woman's journey through the shadows of despair. But it is also a story of surprising kindness, generosity, and friendship; of forgiveness and reconciliation; and the enduring love of family.

About the Author

I. M. Ramsey has worked in a variety of roles in counseling, teaching, and administration at the collegiate level and feels very fortunate to have spent her entire professional career in academia. Her primary research interest has focused on the impact of empathy and forgiveness and the relational dynamics between perpetrators and those who extend forgiveness to them.

This is her first novel with the story based upon the themes found in her South African research of political perpetrators who received empathy and forgiveness from family members of their victims.

I. M. Ramsey lives in Washington state and enjoys spending time with her husband, their daughters, sons-in-law, and three grandsons, a.k.a. "the three scampering squirrels".