You know that place that overflows with memories and meaning? A place that brings you inner peace? Where you sense you truly belong? Homesick and heartsick Mineko, yearns for her turtle house in Japan, where she swam with turtles in a small lagoon and fell in love with Akio. Encouraged by her granddaughter Lia, Mineko tells stories that transport the reader between war torn Japan and a small town in Texas where Mineko was taken as a war bride. In conversations they both keep hidden from their family, Mineko reveals the truth of her growing up, her American soldier husband, and the US occupation of Tokyo. Though Lia comes to grasp the importance of place for her grandmother, she struggles to discover her own place in the world. Urging Lia to search for her true self, Mineko reevaluates her life in Texas and comes to realize she must find her “turtle house” once again.

Amanda Churchill is a writer living in Texas. Her novel, "The Turtle House", was inspired by the life of her beloved grandmother, a Japanese war bride. Her work has been featured in Hobart Pulp, Witness, River Styx, and other publications. Amanda is a Writers’ League of Texas 2021 Fellow. She attended the 2021 Community of Writers workshop in fiction as a James D. Houston Memorial Scholarship recipient. Amanda has also attended the Tin House Summer and Winter Conferences, the One Story Summer Workshop, and StoryBoard Chicago. She was a Fall 2020 mentee in AWP’s Writer to Writer program.