First published 2024
A restaurant owner's daughter navigates new love while ghostly presences of an elderly couple linger nearby. An editor survives a scandalous brush with death and discovers unexpected renewal. A woman flees to her uncle's bar after her fiancé's betrayal shatters her world. These women and two others face sudden upheavals that force them to rebuild their lives from fragments. Each finds refuge in small daily rituals: sharing meals, noticing sunlight on autumn leaves, breathing in familiar scents. The yellow light of ordinary afternoons becomes their sanctuary. Pain transforms slowly into something bearable through these quiet moments. Yoshimoto shows how healing happens not through grand gestures but through the simple act of being present. A conversation over dinner can work miracles. Hope lives in the space between one breath and the next.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief
241 pages · Kindle Edition · Faber & Faber