Inujini — Angela Yuriko Smith

Kaori, Yuki and Shigeko are indigenous Ryukyuan girls on the edge of womanhood who find themselves trapped in a fictionalized Battle of Okinawa. They survive by connecting to their intuition, shiisaa guardians specific to Okinawa, and each other. Based on true events, shamanistic magic may be what brings them together, but the girls must ultimately find the power resident in themselves. Their sisterhood is what defies and defeats those that threaten them. Trigger warning: Sexual violence is an essential part of the plot to represent the real life situation women in Okinawa face to this day, but there are no graphic depictions of the act in this story. It remains only a threat to the characters.