by 小川洋子
First published 1994
On a remote island, a daughter listens as her mother recounts the slow disappearance of the island's wonders - glittering crystals, fragrant flowers, shimmering jewels. As the mother's stories reveal, each lost treasure takes a piece of the islanders' memories and souls. When the daughter unexpectedly loses her parents, she must confront the impending dissolution of the last precious remnants of her family's legacy, held in a secret cabinet. In this poetic meditation on loss and the fragility of existence, one woman fights to preserve the evocative fragments of her vanishing world.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, poetic
Tropes: family-secrets, loss-of-home
Setting: Island
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
288 pages · Paperback · Vintage