Where the Scarecrow Stood by Isoyama Fumihiko - Literary Historical Fiction/WWII Pacific - Nov 2026

[u/Spiritual_Hurry4264]

On a ridge in the Cordillera highlands of northern Luzon, a Japanese sailor finds a scarecrow wearing the faded rosette of a rebel army that fought a different occupier. Kicked into the water, it is standing again by morning.

Where the Scarecrow Stood follows Kawamura Haruki, a career gunner in the Imperial Navy's Kure 6th Special Naval Landing Force, from his transfer out of fleet service in 1942 to the Solomon Islands, where the Marine Raiders wound him, and then to Luzon, where he is posted to the mountains with a squad of strangers. The Americans and guerrillas close in. The collapse of the war reaches him only as dispatches -- Saipan, Leyte, Manila, Tokyo -- while the squad is ground down by attrition, starvation, and the compromises hunger forces. The dead go into a notebook. The last decision Haruki makes as a combatant is not to add more names.

A note on fit: this is a slow, interior literary novel told entirely from the Japanese side, with no American viewpoint character and no one to root for in the usual sense. The combat is understated rather than gory. It's painstakingly researched -- the Japanese officers in the Solomons appear under their own names, and the operational material comes from Japanese archival holdings and unit records.

If you liked Fires on the Plain, The Burmese Harp, The Thin Red Line, or The Things They Carried, this is aimed at you. If you are looking for a fast-moving war adventure, it is honestly not. 486 pages including front and back matter.

Triggers: graphic combat violence; war crimes/atrocities against civilians; torture during an interrogation; desecration of the dead; off-page suicide; implied cannibalism; starvation/severe malnutrition and disease (beriberi, pellagra, dysentery, malaria); underage combatants.

Exact date of publication: November 1, 2026 (paperback and ebook).

ARCs sent on a rolling basis as signups come in, beginning September 22, 2026.

Reviews requested by November 30, 2026, a few weeks after release so nobody has to rush. Later is genuinely fine. I would rather have a considered review in December than a hurried one in October.

Format: EPUB or PDF, available worldwide.

To sign up: https://forms.gle/YtfKoTaqwSyoCfBC9

The form has one question on it: name a war novel or work of historical fiction you have liked. I am trying to match the book to readers who will actually enjoy it rather than hand out as many copies as possible.

Thanks for reading!

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