Minas Matchbox Mina No Kshin Yoko Ogawa Stephen Snyder Translation by Yoko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder (translation) 9781787302761, 1787302768 instant download after payment.

Originally appeared as ミーナの行進 (Mina no kōshin) and serialized in the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun (2005). A year later, it was published as a novel by Chuokoron-Shinsha

Winner of the 42nd Tanizaki Prize

From the award-winning, psychologically astute author of The Memory Police, a hypnotic, introspective novel about an affluent Japanese family navigating buried secrets, & their young house guest who uncovers them.

On sleepless nights, I open the matchbox & 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 & her uncle's magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new & 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 & beguiling & her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes & elaborate storytelling.

The novel briefly touches upon certain events of the time, such as Yasunari Kawabata's suicide and the Munich Olympic Massacre.

Rich with the magic and mystery of youth, Mina’s Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, & a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.