A mathematician finds himself in the midst of the Pacific War

April 1945: In the aftermath of the battle for Okinawa, Tommy stands on the deck of the USS Bataan, the Independence-class aircraft carrier that he’s called home for a year. Once, he was a student in the classrooms of MIT. Now, thousands of miles away, he is surrounded by horrors — but uses his mathematical and navigational expertise to do his best to minimize the casualties.

In this novel, William Illsey Atkinson tells the story of Japan’s Operation Ten-Go, and the fierce battle that sent dozens of vessels to their watery grave while hundreds of others were damaged from the air. Tommy spans the vast experience of one man’s life, from his hardscrabble childhood in early twentieth-century Dorris, California, to his heroic efforts in the South Pacific and beyond.

William Illsey Atkinson's profile page

William Illsey Atkinson was born in Seattle and lives in Toronto. His nonfiction books have been shortlisted for the National Business Book Award, praised by Physics Today and the Wall Street Journal, and named to Executive Book Summaries’ Top 30 Books. He has contributed to the Globe and Mail since 1995.