Mina's Matchbox

Minas Matchbox is a coming-of-age story set in 1970s Japan, following twelve-year-old Tomoko as she moves in with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya. It explores themes of family, change, and the magic of youth, featuring a pygmy hippo as a pet. The book has received critical acclaim, with comparisons to Haruki Murakami and Toni Morrison.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 August 2024
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

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 that will change her life. The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet. Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling. Rich with the magic and mystery of youth, Minas Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse. I read Minas Matchbox like a besotted child, enraptured, never wanting it to end. RUTH OZEKI, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness Dreamy and whimsical. Esquire, Best Books of the Summer. A conspicuously gifted writer. . . She possesses an effortless, glassy, eerie brilliance. Guardian. Readers adore Minas Matchbox: 'I was totally swept away by it.' A beautiful coming of age story. I'd recommend it to any lovers of translated fiction! 'Uplifting. And Pochiko, the pygmy hippo? A wonder.

Weight: 394g
Dimension: 144 x 224 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787302761