Honeybees and Distant Thunder: The million copy award-winning Japanese bestseller

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Description

THE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLERIn a small coastal town just a stone’s throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous – and painful – moments of their lives. Though they don’t know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever.Aya is a piano genius, well, she was, until she ran away from the stage and vanished; will Makun, tall and talented in every way, bring her back? Or will it be child of nature, Jin, a pianist without a piano, who carries the sound of his father’s bees wherever he goes? Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to the brink. But at what cost?Tender, cruel, compelling, HONEYBEES AND DISTANT THUNDER is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry. Most of all, it shows how three young people reconcile with the highs and lows of what it means to truly be a friend.Japanese readers love HONEYBEES AND DISTANT THUNDER***** ‘The novel is a masterpiece. I applaud the author for her powers of description. The author’s extraordinary affection for music made this work seem so complete’***** ‘Each contestant was wonderfully drawn, and I felt moved, as if I were truly hearing each and every musical piece. I also felt the significance of how a competition can create connections between people’***** ‘I felt like I was right there, with the audience, watching the performances, and there were scenes that brought me to tears’***** ‘This is beyond a reading experience. I felt I was actually listening to the music. It felt like some sixth sense was at work. Wonderful’***Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel***

Additional information

Weight 2.37 kg
Dimensions 3.23 × 13.39 × 21.54 cm
PubliCanadation City/Country

United Kingdom

by

,

Format

Paperback

Language

Pages

360

Publisher

Year Published

2023-6-27

Imprint

ISBN 10

0857527959

About The Author

Riku Onda is a No.1 bestselling author in Japan. She grew up in Sendai and attended Waseda University, where she played the alto saxophone in a student band. A book lover from an early age, she left an office job to try her hand at writing. In 1991, Onda won an award with her first novel, and became a full-time writer soon after. In 2003, after overcoming a fear of flying, she visited the UK and Ireland, and later lived in South America, where she reported for NHK television on Mayan and Incan culture. As her father was a music enthusiast, Onda grew up listening to classical music and played the piano from a young age, later discovering Western rock and jazz She is the first writer to be awarded the Japan Booksellers Award twice. In 2017, her novel Honeybees and Distant Thunder was awarded both the Naoki Prize and the Japan Booksellers' Award, the first time a novel has won both. It became an instant No. 1 bestseller in Japan, going on to sell several million copies. It was also made into a highly successful Japanese-language film called 'Listen to the Universe'. This novel will be published around the world.Philip Gabriel is the author of Mad Wives and Island Dreams: Shimao Toshio and the Margins of Japanese Literature and Spirit Matters: The Transcendent in Modern Japanese Literature and has translated many novels and short stories by the writer Haruki Murakami and other modern writers. He is recipient of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature (2001) for his translation of Senji Kuroi’s Life in the Cul-de-Sac, and the 2006 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

A thrilling and often nail-biting depiction of music, friendship and personal demons . . . Onda beautifully conveys the transcendent power of classical music in all its emotive, psychological and visceral glory.—OBSERVERA pitch-perfect, vivid masterpiece. A celebration of the love and joy inherent in the act of creating and appreciating music. Honeybees and Distant Thunder contains a warm frequency that vibrates with life and soul.—NICK BRADLEY, author of THE CAT AND THE CITYPropulsive and poetic—KIRKUS REVIEWSDeeply moving. The now-ness of Onda's writing left me more than once with a big, goofy grin on my face or tears on my cheeks—ASSOCIATED PRESSA fine performance—IRISH TIMESExpect a wave of visceral reactions … an emotive and poetic work—TOKYO WEEKENDER

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