Robert Madrygin has experienced the meaning of culture, ethnicity, and language from many perspectives. He spent his early years in postwar Japan as the son of a US military lawyer appointed to defend the rights of Japanese POWs. On returning to America as a primary speaker of Japanese, he faced the first of numerous profound cultural and social shifts that have shaped much of his life. He navigated his way through an often troubled, isolated childhood that, due to family misfortunes and his father’s career, saw him move from home to home over a dozen times and that for periods of time had him placed in foster care. The Solace of Trees is his first novel. He and his wife live in Brattleboro, Vermont.

“Powerful, eye-opening reading for everyone. . . . Using firm, quiet language to agonizing and ultimately infuriating effect, debut novelist Madrygin tells an important story.” —Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal“Madrygin’s harrowing, compelling debut will live long in the reader’s memory. . . . A timely novel that introduces a writer of huge ambition, The Solace of Trees is deeply informative and moving, and it will spark debates regarding American foreign policy.” ⎯Booklist“In Madrygin’s gripping debut, the horrors of war give way to the challenges of carving out a life in a hostile country.” ⎯Publishers Weekly