MINA'S MATCHBOX

On sleepless nights I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting starsAfter 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.While the 1970s transform Japan her uncle''''s magnificent colonial mansion is a place out of time; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pet pygmy hippo. Equally beguiling are Tomoko’s relatives especially her cousin Mina. Their growing friendship draws her into an intoxicating world – one 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.''''Beguiling'''' New Yorker‘Beautifully composed’ Financial Times‘Effervescent’ New York Times Book Review‘Transfixing’ Time''''I read Mina’s Matchbox like a besotted child enraptured never wanting it to end'''' Ruth Ozeki