Por Cynthia Robertson

Like so many other San Carlos area residents, Margaret Dilloway, mother of three, enjoys hiking out in Mission Trails, participating in sports and events at the Allied Gardens Recreation Center and having lunch or dinner at K’nB. What sets Dilloway apart from most other women is that she spends a large part of her time writing books. She has had three novels published, and her newest one, for young adults, is a departure from the kind of books she’s most known for.

“Momotaro: Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters,” a children’s fantasy book, will be released on April 5 by Disney-Hyperion. The book is about a half-Japanese sixth-grader living in San Diego’s backcountry who loves drawing comics and creating computer programs but can hardly stand school. When a tsunami hits San Diego and his father disappears, Xander finds he’s heir to the line of warriors known as the Momotaro.

Xander must go rescue his father and save California with the help of his friend Peyton, his dog Inu, and a girl named Jinx. Along the way he discovers his new powers.

“The book is very much about the power of imagination, as well as the value of friendship and honoring one’s cultural heritage,” said Dilloway. “I made Xander half-Japanese because I never had any half -Japanese characters to read when I was growing up. In fact, I never read very many books with an Asian protagonist.”

In Japanese legend, Momotaro goes to fight the oni, monsters responsible for all the bad things that happen to humans (wars, disasters, famine). When the oni become strong, Momotaro is called into action.

“I had a lot of fun writing this one,” she said. “I enjoy writing for young people.”

“Xander and the lost island of Monsters” is the first in a series of books about Momatoro, said Dilloway. The second book, “Momotaro: Xander and the Dream Thief,” will be published next year.

On Jan. 22, Dilloway was a featured guest of the San Carlos Library where she discussed her new book for young adults, as well as her previous novels for more mature adults.

Dolloway’s first novel, “How to Be an American Housewife,” was a culmination of events, she said. When she was about 25, she wrote a play which got a staged reading at a festival. She realized that the work could be expanded but wasn’t quite sure how. In the meantime, she was commissioned to write “Bluetooth for Dummies,” but was never published because the book was cancelled, even though she had finished the writing.

The good thing after that was that she knew she could write book-length work. So she set to work on her first novel, which never sold.

Finally, she wrote “How to Be an American Housewife,” about Shoko, a young Japanese bride of an American GI. In America, Shoko learns the culture and ways of America — how to be a housewife and mother. She sends her daughter Sue to Japan to reconcile with a family member. The experience of being in her mother’s native land changes Sue forever.

“I wrote it because I’d finally gotten enough life and writing experience to attempt it,” Dilloway said.

Her second novel, “The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns” is the story of Gal Garner, a thirty-something teacher suffering from kidney disease and hoping for a transplant. She finds solace and satisfaction in tending to and breeding roses, as well as a family member who comes to stay with her.

Dilloway said that she had been inspired to write the book after watching her sister-in-law Deborah do battle with kidney disease. “If you don’t think a dialysis patient can do as much as Gal does in this book, then you should have met Deborah,” Dilloway writes in the acknowledgements.

As daughter of a Japanese mother and an American father, Dilloway finds herself often including bicultural themes in her books. “Maybe it’s a way to stay in touch with my heritage,” said Dilloway, who grew up in San Diego.

She also researches and reads up on her own ancestry and Japanese culture.

In fact, the idea for her third novel, “Sisters of Heart and Snow,” published last April, came about when she discovered that her mother was from a samurai family. Dilloway researched clan names and saw that her mother’s family name, Makino, had originated from the Minamoto clan. Using “The Tale of the Heiki” to help her piece together the picture of the drama of Japan’s civil war of the 12th century, Dilloway learned about the beautiful samurai Tomoe Gozen, a superb warrior of the Minamoto clan who defeated the Taira clan.

Dilloway was so impressed with the lore of Gozen that she intended to weave the warrior’s story into the contemporary tale of two daughters of a mail-order bride and a domineering father. Blending distinctly different eras into one tale is Dilloway’s hallmark. She masterfully does so in “Sisters of Heart and Snow.”

“It’s about the bonds of sisterhood by blood and friendship,” she said

One of Dilloway’s biggest challenges in marketing her books is that in the United States, literature with Asian characters is often not highly regarded. As an example of how Asian characters are disregarded, she cited “Aloha,” a 2015 film drama about the romance between a military contractor and a female pilot.

“The female pilot was supposed to be Asian, but they cast Emma Stone as the character,” Dilloway said. “I am going to work hard to change the perception of Asian characters.”

No doubt she will succeed. For more information about Dilloway and her books, visit her website at www.margaretdilloway.com.

––Write to Cynthia Robertson at [email protected].