TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK

• Year of publication: 1999
• Number of pages:160 (paperback)
• Editorial house: Dell Laurel-Leaf

LENSEY NAMIOKA

Namioka is a chinese-born American writer, who writes  for young adults and children.Born in Beijing, China the 14th of June, 1929, their family fled to the west after living in Nanjing to escape from the Japanese invasion of 1937. Eventually they made it to Massachusetts. Namioka attended grade school, then college where she met and later married Isaac Namioka. The two moved to New York where Lensey taught in a college.

On a visit to Japan in the 1970's, they visited Namioka castle, and became inspired to write about samurai. Her study culminated in the book "The samurai and the Long-nosed devils", published in 1976. 

"Ties that bind, ties that break" has won an award for best books for young people and has also won the California Young Reader Medal.

Sources: 

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26612.Lensey_Namioka

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensey_Namioka