DIAMOND: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan

At six, she sees her family murdered. At ten, she is almost forced into marriage. At age twenty, she marries the most important man in town.  But she never stops dreaming of the day when she may learn the truth about herself.

In 1941, Japan invades the Philippines. Thousands of Japanese people are murdered by guerilla fighters, including the parents of one little girl who is somehow spared. Local tribespeople take the child as a trophy of war. Passed around the town, six-year-old Diamond is treated like a servant and bullied as an outsider. When she is almost taken as an unwilling child bride, she is rescued by her wits and by Doming Apostol, chief of the Bagobo Tribe, who takes her in to work as a caretaker for his children.

In the Apostol household, Diamond finds a better life and comes to love the Apostol family. Her devotion is tested when Chief Doming is arrested for murder and sent to prison. His proud, beautiful wife abandons the home, leaving five of her children behind. As the estate falls apart and starvation threatens, Diamond pulls the little ones through with sheer determination.

When he is freed, Chief Doming’s gratitude to Diamond, who is now grown up, knows no bounds. He asks for her hand in marriage. Frightened at first, Diamond agrees, but with no idea how to be lady of a great house or how to engage in the politics of leadership. Still, love and understanding form between the couple, and their marriage lasts many years. When tragedy strikes, Diamond and her children are left impoverished and at the mercy of Erlinda, Doming’s eldest daughter, and Erlinda’s unscrupulous husband. Diamond wonders if she will ever truly escape the struggles of being an outsider.

Diamond: The Memoir of a Lost Daughter of Japan is an inspiring true story. With the strength and resilience of the gem for which she was named, Diamond fights to preserve what is most important to her—her family—even as she dreams that another family still searches for her somewhere in the world.