Rating: 4 because it is complex and difficult to label
My Thoughts:
This was a complex story because I could not find the right label or genre for this. What was it? How do I describe it? Sometimes it is just a mystery. But it is also a ghost story. It is a family story, but like any good mystery, I am not sure how things connect, and when connections revealed itself in the story, I was just as surprised as the character. So it is also about not just one, but two unreliable narrators. It is about loss, tragedy, young love, mature love, mother's love, child's love, betrayal. It is a "play within a play" of sorts. It is about ghosts amongst us. It is about music. It is about being lost in translation. It is about queer love as well as mixed race love. It is about forbidden love. It is about two cultures. It is about being hapa and in multiple worlds and cultures at once, much like the author. Young readers can glom onto any of the different labels based on what they need from this novel.
Perhaps in the end, for me, this is a story about remembering. I think I will go to the graveyard this weekend to visit some ancestors.
From the Publisher:
When Adam discovers a diary in his attic, he is enthralled by its account of a young woman's life in Nagasaki. A hundred years separate them, yet like Adam, she is caught between cultures, relationships, and heartbreak.
She also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy—until he begins to be haunted by her terrifying spirit. Unravelling the mystery of her identity—and the wrong done to her—seems to be the only way to save himself.
This leads Adam to a home stay in Nagasaki, where he begins to reconnect to his heritage not only through Japanese language and culture, but also by connecting with long-lost family members. And then begins a race against time as Adam and his new crush, Jo, attempt to untangle a story that has rippled through generations . .
She also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy—until he begins to be haunted by her terrifying spirit. Unravelling the mystery of her identity—and the wrong done to her—seems to be the only way to save himself.
This leads Adam to a home stay in Nagasaki, where he begins to reconnect to his heritage not only through Japanese language and culture, but also by connecting with long-lost family members. And then begins a race against time as Adam and his new crush, Jo, attempt to untangle a story that has rippled through generations . .
Publication Information:
Author: Clara Kumagai
Publisher: Amulet Books (August 12, 2025)
Print length: 400 pages
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