Water Moon

I really enjoyyed this and found myself wanting to come back to it ahead of any “required” reading, like for the upcoming book club meeting. It tells us of Tokyo pawn shop that cannot be found except for those that made an ill-considered life choice and wish to exchange their regrets with the pawn broker. What they must give up becomes clear near the end of the book but the process is of vital importance to the dream world that lies beyond the door of the shop.

It starts as a mystery, when the shop is ransacked and the pawn broker disppears on the day his daughter is due to take over. As she is about to set off in pursuit a physicist Keisen appears and self-lessly offers to help. A love story then develops as they investigate and pursue her father through the dream world.

I won’t say any more but the story is full of incident, drama and marvellous imagination - you will learn how bags are really supposed to work and the fastest way to travel is by rumour, after all, nothing travels faster than a rumour! It is peopled by fascinating characters, many of whom have a life affirming outlook that we could all learn from (I’ve added a couple of passages to my personal “inspirations” notebook).

A wonderful, moving story, and had I not finished it in the middle of a busy coffee shop I would have cried at the ending. A delight.