Mina's Matchbox

On sleepless nights, I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting stars.<BR><BR>'Beguiling' New Yorker<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR><BR>'Beautifully composed' Financial Times<BR><BR>'Effervescent' New York Times Book Review<BR><BR>'Transfixing' Time<BR><BR>'I read Mina's Matchbox like a besotted child, enraptured, never wanting it to end' Ruth Ozeki