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.
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
