Mittens and Pity

It's a city with a mysterious magnetism, where things seem to be cocooned in a beautiful, illusive haze - Where everybody lives in a dream. These hauntingly beautiful stories explore the lives of six women who, in confronting formative or traumatic moments in their pasts, try to find some kind of peace. A couple takes a honeymoon to Helsinki after both of their mothers, who had been against the marriage, passed away. A daughter who has dedicated her young adult life to caring for her sick mother, travels to Taipei after her death, slowly adjusting to a new sense of freedom and loneliness. Seeking closure from the accidental death of her best friend, a woman follows the last footstep of her best friend in Rome and encounters the person who has been holding her friend's final message. Deeply immersive, Yoshimoto's deceptively simple prose beautifully evokes the small moments and memories which illuminate the transience of life.