{"product_id":"minas-matchbox-9780593313411","title":"Mina's Matchbox","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Memory Police \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Housekeeper and the Professor\u003c\/i\u003e, a hypnotic novel about an affluent Japanese family navigating buried secrets, and their young house guest who uncovers them. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A story of first enchantments and last gasps...Effervescent.\" --\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A transfixing coming of age tale.\" --\u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"One of the literary events of the year.\" --\u003ci\u003eParade\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the spring of 1972, twelve-year-old Tomoko leaves her mother behind in Tokyo and boards a train alone for Ashiya, a coastal town in Japan, to stay with her aunt's family. Tomoko's aunt is an enigma and an outlier in her working-class family, and her magnificent home--and handsome foreign husband, the president of a soft drink company--are symbols of that status. The seventeen rooms are filled with German-made furnishings; there are sprawling gardens and even an old zoo where the family's pygmy hippopotamus resides. The family is just as beguiling as their mansion--Tomoko's dignified and devoted aunt, her German great-aunt, and her dashing, charming uncle, who confidently sits as the family's patriarch. At the center of the family is Tomoko's cousin Mina, a precocious, asthmatic girl of thirteen who draws Tomoko into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this elegant jewel box of a book, Yoko Ogawa invites us to witness a powerful and formative interlude in Tomoko's life. Behind the family's sophistication are complications that Tomoko struggles to understand--her uncle's mysterious absences, her great-aunt's experience of the Second World War, her aunt's misery. Rich with the magic and mystery of youthful experience, \u003ci\u003eMina's Matchbox\u003c\/i\u003e is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time--and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-11316073\"\u003eYoko Ogawa\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.10w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593313411\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593313410\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC043000\"\u003eComing of Age\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC045000\"\u003eFamily Life | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC108000\"\u003eWorld Literature | Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYOKO OGAWA\u003c\/b\u003e has won every major Japanese literary award. Her fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, A Public Space, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Zoetrope: All-Story\u003c\/i\u003e. Her works include \u003ci\u003eThe Memory Police, The Diving Pool, \u003c\/i\u003ea collection of three novellas;\u003ci\u003e The Housekeeper and the Professor; Hotel Iris;\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRevenge.\u003c\/i\u003e She lives in Ashiya, Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44380255846539,"sku":"9780593313411","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0626\/5100\/7115\/files\/img_3dbb2057-d7d7-43c6-8026-d76beebda6e5.jpg?v=1760539005","url":"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/products\/minas-matchbox-9780593313411","provider":"CA Corrections Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}