"Suddenly motherless, Vera finds herself in the care of her distant grandfather, a well-established traveler and merchant. He spins her wonderful stories of his early life, of paintings, pearls, and the adventures of those who harvest and trade them." "But, when the old man dies, Vera finds herself alone again; her sole support is her late grandfather's mistress, a pearl diver. On the island that is her new home, she is at first a stranger, but is soon befriended by another loner, a ceremonial sword polisher; even as she learns the divers' skills and becomes more part of island life, she finds a safe haven in him." "Then the worst happens. Vera is forced to return to Canada by a father whom she had long thought dead. World War II breaks out and Japan is now the enemy. The idyll is over. The return home would always be hard: the life with a father she had never known; the discoveries of the mysterious past of her beloved grandfather; the entry into urban society. But hardest of all is the feeling of betrayal when she sees the pictures of that ceremonial sword being handed to Hitler. Can she ever reconcile her present with her past?"--BOOK JACKET.