Skriveni cvet

The Hidden Flower (1952) is a romantic-drama novel by American Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck, set in post-war Japan and post-World War II America. The main character, Josui Sakai, a young Japanese woman from a prominent family who grew up in America before the war, returns to Japan and studies in Kyoto. There she meets American Lieutenant Allen Kennedy, a Southerner from Virginia stationed in occupied Japan. They fall in love, despite their cultural and racial differences. They marry in secret in a Buddhist temple, symbolizing their desire for unity beyond social norms.

When Allen leaves for America, Josui becomes pregnant. He plans to bring her and the child with him, but he faces racism and prejudice from his family and Southern society in the 1950s – marriage to a Japanese woman is considered unacceptable, and a mixed-race child carries a stigma. Josui, faced with rejection and loneliness, goes through deep suffering, while Buck subtly portrays the clash of cultures, love across borders and the destructive power of racism.

The novel explores themes of interracial love, identity, women's destiny and the effects of war on individuals. Buck, known for her deep understanding of Asia (she lived in China), here turns to Japan and America, criticizing American racism and the hypocrisy of post-war society. The style is emotional, lyrical, with a focus on the internal conflicts of the characters, without pathos - typical of Bucka's novels about the conflict between East and West (similar to "East Wind: West Wind").