Serenely Beautiful

Four Seasons In Japan by Nick Bradley is a gentle contemporary novel that I read in just one sitting.

Japanese fiction is soothing for the soul, and Four Seasons In Japan is no exception. There is a calmness and an ethereal beauty to the story.

This is a book within a book as we meet a young translator whose love for novels has gone cold. An accidental encounter with a book left behind on a train, awakens her passion for books once more.

The reader travels from Tokyo to rural Japan as a character goes to stay with his grandmother. He longs to find himself and to decide what to do with his life. Pressure from his mother to become a doctor has unsettled him.

We were created to follow our own dreams and not the dreams of others.

In order to know where we are going, we need to first know where we have come from. Two generational tragedies have been swept under the carpet but now is the time for the truth to come out.

Within the book, the reader ‘travels’ to the peace gardens in Hiroshima. It is very moving as the image of the dome loomed large in my mind.

We witness the growing relationship between a grandmother and her grandson. Under her loving wings, he buds and blossoms.

Cats are important in Japan. As a crazy cat lady, I just loved meeting Coltrane/Mick Jagger.

Four Seasons In Japan was serenely beautiful and I enjoyed it.

JULIA WILSON