“Stirring, I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. Meticulous descriptions that make you live the book like a film. Delicate, very intimate. Fluent writing.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
“A moving story of redemption… a soul imprisoned in Winter’s frost awaiting Spring”
I’m so happy to have read this novel, and the reason is simple: I haven’t come across such a deep and compelling book for ages. An unpredictable original plot that deals with current social themes with sensitivity. This is contemporary fiction but with shades of romance and suspense.
The story follows the main character Kaede, half English and half Japanese, between the past (set in Kyoto) and the present (set in London). Kaede suffers from a profound trauma which has caused the loss of a part of his past; all his childhood has been cancelled. He fears to remember it because this would mean that he would have to face the memory of his mother, a shadow that haunts and harms him.
He is a university student unable to relate to the world and with others until he meets Rey, slightly older than him and then everything changes. The chapters that unfold the mystery of his childhood are the most powerful: the description of a little boy overwhelmed by a world too tough for him, are the most intense. An unhealthy mother’s love, the severe Japanese education and the absence of a father have far-reaching consequences. I really felt moved by some chapters.
The style of writing is very fluent and mature and the descriptions of the surroundings, characters and emotions are so precise and vivid that one feels that one is living together with the protagonists, as in a film. A wonderful beginning for a writer of talent. I hope to soon read much more from this author.
Reviewed by:
Dario
Added 28th December 2016
