by Emily Itami
First published 2025
Rei works in London finance while her sister Kiki raises her young son alone in Tokyo and works at a retirement home. Their youngest sister Ai has built a career as a traveling Japanese music idol. The three sisters lost both parents and now depend on each other despite living apart. When Ai becomes caught up in a public scandal, Rei and Kiki drop everything to help her. They gather at their childhood home on the Japanese coast for the summer. There they reconnect with their sharp-tongued grandmother and look after Kiki's energetic son. The sisters carefully avoid discussing how their mother died fifteen years ago, but Ai's crisis forces buried truths to surface. As the summer unfolds, the three women must confront the stories they have told themselves about their family's past.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: contemplative, emotional, intimate, introspective, poignant
Tropes: buried-secrets-surfacing, family-reunion, found-family, sisters-bond
Setting: London, Tokyo, Japan, Japanese coast
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
464 pages · Paperback · William Morrow Large Print
Content warnings: death