Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story

This inspiring memoir follows Hirono’s personal and political life, from her childhood as an immigrant living in Hawaii to becoming the first Asian-American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. At age seven, Hirono and her mother left her abusive father and Japan for Hawaii. She didn’t encounter racism in multicultural Hawaii, but her family’s poverty and being immigrants led to struggles with her more privileged, English-speaking classmates. However, Hirono notes, she’d inherited her mother’s “heart of fire,” a tenacity that helped power her through the discrimination she faced in college, law school, and throughout her political career, from Hawaii’s House of Representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives to a landslide victory in the U.S. Senate. Hirono writes that she adopts the same attitude in her personal life, whether standing up to friends when necessary or beating cancer. Throughout, her mother’s presence is invoked as a model of stoicism and confidence. Equally affecting is the memory of her younger brother, Wayne, who was left behind in Japan as a toddler. Though they eventually reunited, his tragic experience makes Hirono’s argument against former-President Trump’s border separation policy heartbreakingly intimate. These personal details are where the narrative shines. Hirono’s story of struggles and triumph satisfies and enlightens in equal measure. (Apr.)