MINAS MATCHBOX

On sleepless nights I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting stars After the death of her father twelve year old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya It is a year which will change her life The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle s magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling Rich with the magic and mystery of youth Mina s Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse Praise for Mina s Matchbox I read Mina s Matchbox like a besotted child enraptured never wanting it to end RUTH OZEKI author of The Book of Form and Emptiness Dreamy and whimsical Mina s Matchbox traffics in the themes at which Ogawa always excels memory identity and nostalgia Esquire Best Books of the Summer A conspicuously gifted writer To read Ogawa is to enter a dreamlike state She possesses an effortless gla