What is the title of your latest release?
WHEN MIKAN ROAD WAS OURS
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When a mixed-race Japanese American English teacher unexpectedly receives a copy of his estranged great-uncle’s memoir, he uncovers long-buried family secrets and is forced to contend with all he’s inherited, willingly and unwillingly.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Given the story chronicles Japanese American history, specifically the story of a family connected to agriculture and affected by WWII incarceration, it needed to be set on the west coast. But for the current-day narrator, I chose a small suburb setting because it felt like he would be drawn to a town (that to him) serves as a bit of a cocoon and feeds into his desire for isolation.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely! I’d love to sit down with Yua and Eiko and hear more of their stories. To me, those two characters are the heart of the book.
What are three words that describe your hero?
The book features quite a number of characters, so I’ll answer this one in reference to the Murano family as a whole: loving, resilient, reflective.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Writing this book was an education for me, both personally and historically, and I’m still learning so much more about the legacy and stories of Japanese Americans. However, learning about the contributions and innovations of Japanese American farmers in Southern California was not only an enlightening experience, but a real point of pride for me that I’m excited for readers to learn about too.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I’m a somewhat restless writer, so I’m always tinkering with sentences and scenes in between writing sessions, partly because it helps to get me back into the flow and partly because I don’t usually outline, so editing as I draft is a way to dig deeper into a character or a setting or a moment that hopefully will provide more clarity and trajectory for the story moving forward.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Breakfast burritos!
Describe your writing space/office!
A cramped corner spot in my converted garage surrounded by all the books I love – with the added bonus of a view to the backyard so I can look out at my cats snoozing in the shade.
Who is an author you admire?
Wow, there are so many I deeply admire that it’s difficult to choose just one. But two writers who influenced this book were Julie Otsuka and Marilynne Robinson.
Is there a book that changed your life?
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
When I received the email from Atria congratulating me on winning the Books Like Us contest, I immediately stood up from my computer in a daze, unsure how to digest the information. My fingers felt numb and I was lightheaded. I had to take a brisk walk around my backyard just to settle myself before I replied to thank Atria and Simon and Schuster for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I mostly read literary fiction, but a good noirish mystery will always grab my attention, especially if it’s set in L.A.
What’s your favorite movie?
I’m not sure this is my “favorite” movie (because it’s heartbreaking) but the movie that moved me the most emotionally and affected me for days after is Grave of Fireflies.
What is your favorite season?
Dodgers baseball season!
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With a small group of friends and family, just hanging out in the backyard with some good food.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Season 2 of “The Rehearsal” is definitely an experience I recommend.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Living in Southern California means I’m spoiled with so many great cuisines! But I have a sweet tooth, so nothing beats the donut shops in L.A.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love working on crossword puzzles, and I’m currently taking Japanese lessons.
What can readers expect from you next?
I recently finished a manuscript that’s a loose reimagining of OF MICE AND MEN, featuring two Japanese immigrant fieldhands in 1903 Oxnard as the protagonists.
WHEN MIKAN ROAD WAS OURS by D.K. Furutani
A Novel
Winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, a gripping, sincere debut novel set across four generations of a Japanese American family living in California’s vibrant agricultural heartlands, exploring the sharp edges of inheritance and what it means to truly belong.
Amidst a sweltering Los Angeles heat wave, Murano, a reclusive high school English teacher, is muddling through life. Reeling from his father’s sudden death as well as his own recent cancer diagnosis, he passes time hazily grading papers and appeasing disgruntled parents while counting down each day until summer vacation.
The monotony breaks when he inherits his great-uncle Benjiro’s unpublished memoir. What Murano expects to be a grim reminder of his position as the half-white son of the family’s outcast instead whisks him away to 1930s California, to a time when the Murano family was inseparable, relishing life together on their bucolic farm. As the memoir introduces him to relatives he never knew existed and unearths hidden complexities of the past, Murano is pulled close to the Japanese identity he’s dismissed all of his life. Faced with the reality of his family’s dissolution, Murano becomes determined to understand its breaking point following their incarceration in American concentration camps during World War II, no matter what hidden truths he might uncover about his ancestors or himself.
Lovingly crafted with poignant and profound attention to historical detail, When Mikan Road Was Ours is a rich meditation on belonging that seamlessly blends the intricacies of heritage, the resilience of family bonds, and the struggle to reconcile a past filled with both heartache and hope.
Fiction Literary [ Atria Books, On Sale: July 28, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668086926 / eISBN: 9781668086940 ]
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About D.K. Furutani
D.K. Furutani was born and raised in Los Angeles where he resides with his wife and three cats. His debut novel, When Mikan Road Was Ours, won the third annual BOOKS LIKE US contest and will be published by Atria in July of 2026.
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