Mina's Matchbox: A Novel BY Yoko Ogawa

From the award-winning author of The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa delivers a hypnotic and introspective novel about an affluent Japanese family and their young house guest who uncovers long-buried secrets.

"A story of first enchantments and last gasps…Effervescent." —New York Times Book Review

"Yoko Ogawa is a quiet wizard, casting her words like a spell, conjuring a world of curiosity and enchantment, secrets and loss. I read Mina’s Matchbox like a besotted child, enraptured, never wanting it to end." —Ruth Ozeki, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness

In the spring of 1972, twelve-year-old Tomoko leaves her mother behind in Tokyo and embarks on a journey to Ashiya, a coastal town in Japan, to stay with her enigmatic aunt’s family. Tomoko’s aunt stands apart from her working-class relatives with her opulent home and dashing foreign husband, the president of a soft drink company. Their grand mansion features seventeen rooms, German-made furnishings, sprawling gardens, and even an old zoo with a pygmy hippopotamus. The family itself is as intriguing as their lavish surroundings—Tomoko’s dignified aunt, her German great-aunt, and her charming uncle, the family’s patriarch.

At the heart of this world is Tomoko’s cousin Mina, a thirteen-year-old with a flair for storytelling and secret crushes, who draws Tomoko into an intoxicating realm. As Tomoko navigates the sophistication of her relatives, she encounters their hidden complications—her uncle’s mysterious absences, her great-aunt’s wartime past, and her aunt’s underlying misery.

Mina’s Matchbox is an elegant exploration of a pivotal moment in Tomoko’s life, capturing the magic and mystery of youth and the fragile nature of a family on the brink of unraveling.