Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda (translated by Alison Watts)

Today is my stop on the tour for Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda, the second of her books to be translated into English. Many thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb

Set in Tokyo over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro have decided to be together one last time in their shared flat before parting. Their relationship has broken down after a mountain trek during which their guide died inexplicably. Now each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and what really happened on the mountain? In the battle of wills between them, the chain of events leading up to this night are gradually revealed in a gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.

My Review

This is my first book by Riku Ondu although she has had a previous book,The Aosawa Murders, translated into English. So I went into it not knowing what to expect. The gorgeous title might lead you to believe it would be a lovely, bright story but it is billed as a psychological thriller. Curiouser and curiouser. 

Aki and Hiro's relationship has broken down over the last year following a traumatic event. On a holiday mountain trek their guide died mysteriously and each believes that the other was responsible for his death. Now, on the last night in their shared apartment, each is determined to get the truth from the other about what actually happened on that fateful day. 

As a Westerner, one of the joys was getting a peak into a culture I know very little about. Neither Aki nor Hiro behave how I imagine I might behave in a final night before parting ways with someone, particularly someone I had a deep suspicion about. Maybe it's a cultural thing, maybe it's down to the personalities involved. The furniture is all gone, The apartment is pretty empty, Hiro is moving elsewhere and Aki is heading off on a trip with a friend. But they sit down together, using Aki's case as a makeshift table and share a final meal together and embark on this difficult conversation. 

It took time for me to get into this. The story is told in the first person, but swaps between the two characters. There are no chapter headings so we must work out whose part in the story we are reading. It's claustrophobic as almost the whole book is set within the apartment and features only these two characters. But as the night wears on we see snippets of their childhoods and the memories that each has of the day that has brought them to this point. 

These are two people who know each other very well. How the other behaves, their likes and dislikes and there is a real depth of feeling between them. Everything is remarkably civilised. I loved that we see all the mundane details - what the apartment is like, what they eat and drink, the smells, and the noises from the outside world. But the conversation itself brings the shocks, and there are plenty.

This is such a hard book to review without giving spoilers. It's a relatively slight book coming in at just over 200 pages and as a result, a quick read. But there is much to unpack. Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight is a psychological thriller but it's kind of disguised as something else. We're reading a conversation between two people, the breakdown of a relationship, the ending of something. I'm not sure I've read another book like it. I liked the juxtaposition of the mundane with the exciting and shocking, it made for a really interesting read. 

Just as a footnote, it's lovely to see a bio for the translator. I am reading more and more translated fiction and it's only down to the excellent work of talented translators that I'm able to do that. I'm incredibly grateful. 

The Author

Riku Onda, born in 1964, has been writing fiction since 1991 and has published prolifically since. She has won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers' Award, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and the Naoki Prize. Her work has been adapted for film and television. Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight follows on from the success of The Aosawa Murders (ISBN 978-1912242-245/£8.99) and is her second work to be translated into English.


The Translator

Alison Watts is an Australian born Japanese to English translator and long time resident of Japan. She has translated The Aosawa Murders, Aya Goda's TAO: On the Road and On the Run In Outlaw China and Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa.

Nothing Else by Louise Beech

I'm delighted to share my review of Nothing Else, the new book from Louise Beech today for my stop on the blog tour. Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publishers for my review copy. 

The Blurb

The multiple bestselling and award-winning author returns with an exquisitely moving novel about surviving devastating trauma and the unbreakable bond between sisters; a story of courage and love, and the power of music to transcend – and change – everything.

Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.

But Harriet is gone ... she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.

When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night ... coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.

My Review

Nothing Else is the fourth of Louise's books that I've read. I really enjoyed Call Me Star Girl and I Am Dust but I absolutely loved last year's This Is How We Are Human - it really touched me and was one of my two favourite books of the year. So I was super keen to read this new one. Beech moves smoothly between genres, sometimes defying them altogether. I'm not sure what I'd class Nothing Else as - literary fiction is probably my best guess. But labels don't matter. What matters is that I know I'm in for a treat with one of Louise Beech's books.

Heather is 47, divorced with no kids. She teaches piano during the day and plays at clubs etc occasionally in the evenings. Piano is her life and it has been ever since she was a little girl. Her and younger sister Harriet side by side on the piano stool, playing to block out the bad stuff. Harriet. Who Heather hasn't seen for 37 years, since shortly after the death of their parents. Heather has no idea what happened to Harriet and has been unable to find anything out. So she requests her care records hoping they will give her a clue. At the same time, the opportunity comes up to be the resident pianist on a cruise liner for six weeks. Heather goes for it, taking her care records with her to read. She has to face some painful truths and memories but it's a trip that will change her life forever.

This book has all the feels, I went through pretty much every emotion, I think. Heather is easy to like, and I was excited for her embarking on this new adventure at that time in her life. But she is so haunted by memories of her sister, and her childhood generally, even though she has done her best to block those memories out. Recently though, it has become more important to her to find out the truth and her frustration, sadness and pain come through. We feel her 'saudade' (what a fantastic new word to know, thanks Louise!)

In a dual timeline we meet the young Heather and Harriet and learn more of their story. Oh, how these two little girls moved me. The things that they saw, they heard, they knew, things that little children should never see, hear, know. The piano was their refuge, their way to shut out the bad. The girls love each other fiercely and I loved Heather's protectiveness over Harriet, two years her junior. These sisters are a unit. Until they're not. I 'm quite an emotional person and cry easily, particularly just now. There were many moments in this book that made me cry, sometimes a scene, sometimes just a line, but a lot of them came in the older timeline when my heart broke for those girls. And I wanted to scream at their heartless grandmother but loved Mr Hibbert.

I loved how music is just threaded through the heart and soul of this book. There's the music that enthralled the girls, then protects them, the music that becomes Heather's life, her purpose, and the music she plays on board the ship and The joy of brings to those listening. It's so ingrained in Heather that it's how she looks at life, at the world around her. I loved the way Louise writes about it, about the effects it has on people ' I felt like my heart opened up. Like my pores drank it in...as though I heard it with more than my ears.' I would urge you to check out the Nothing Else playlist on Spotify - I did and it's ace.

What Beech has done in all of the books of hers that I've read, and I'm guessing the ones I haven't too, is write about people so richly, the human condition, feelings and emotions. I have felt invested in every one of her characters and it was no different here. I was rooting for Heather throughout, celebrating her wins, feeling her pain. Nothing Else is a beautiful look at love, loss, pain and longing. About home, belonging, family and bonds that can't be broken. About two little girls sitting together on a piano stool trying to shut out the bad, the music that shaped them and the bond that ties them. It's heartbreaking in places but in others your heart will soar with the music. It's moving and emotional. It hasn't replaced This Is How We Are Human as my favourite Louise Beech novel read so far but I loved it and would happily recommend it.

The Author

All six of Louise Beech’s books have been digital bestsellers. Her novels have been a Guardian Readers’ Choice, shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull. Follow her on Twitter @louisewriter.

Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz (translated by Rachel Ward)

As I've mentioned many times before, my preferred genre is crime/psychological thrillers but it does me good to move away from those occasionally to other genres - to widen my reading experience but also to give a lighter side to contrast with the darkness of crime fiction. So, I'm having a mini run of other stuff just now and today's entry is a gorgeous debut novel. Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz, translated by Rachel Ward is published by Orenda Books and out this month. Many thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on to the blog tour and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she is to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace. Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.

The first night lengthens into weeks as Sally starts to find pleasure in working with the bees, feeding the chickens, and harvesting potatoes. Eventually an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts through their shared work on the land.

My Review

Well, this was an absolute delight! I love finding new authors (to me) and am trying to expand my reading of translated fiction and this was just a perfect addition.

Sally is 17 and fed up of people telling her what to do - her parents, her teachers, staff at the clinic she's just absconded from. Pretty much all adults, really, because they all seem to think they know what's best for her. So she runs away from the clinic, rucksack on her back and no phone. As she is walking she meets Liss whose trailer is stuck in a ditch, and helps her get it out. Asking nothing, Liss offers Sally a bed for a night and so begins a tale of friendship and belonging.

I loved the two women in this story. They don't have a huge supporting cast so must carry the story themselves. And because they are so beautifully drawn, they do this with ease. We don't know much about either woman when we start out. We know Sally is running away, we know she is angry. We know Liss is on her own, we soon learn she doesn't say much. Then the author brings out more details about them as we move through the book using flashback memories and dialogue to gently show us the pain that brought each woman to the place we meet them.

This is a slow paced novel because Liss's life is lived at a slower pace. No phone, no social media, a village still following old traditions. But this gives Sally time to look, to listen and to really appreciate the small things in life. And Liss is unusual - she doesn't question Sally, she doesn't judge when Sally doesn't eat much and doesn't react negatively when Sally's temper explodes. So Sally begins to calm. And what I really loved was that neither woman realised the impact of the other on their life until they were apart.

Liss runs a farm and nature and the outdoors play a huge part in this story. The birds that Sally really listens to for the first time, the sweetness of the honey pears she tastes. Everything is so richly described you can't help but be drawn in with the sights, sounds and smells. And through the women we see the joys to be found in reconnecting with nature.

I loved the author's writing which, of course, I am only able to read because of Rachel Ward's excellent translation so huge thanks to her. He just had a beautiful way of describing things (even unpleasant ones).

'the panic deep in her belly like an ugly, brutal dog that has just woken up and was about to slobber, bite, rampage its way through her.'

'And that was how she felt inwardly now. As if everything has flowed out of her, leaving her as a wasteland of mud. With all the ugly and harsh and overgrown things that usually lay hidden beneath the glittering surface of the water now sticking out. All the things that sink to the floor within you, where they rot and fester.'

'...the view was stunning. It was a picture like still water; as if you were quenching a thirst you hadn't previously noticed.'

Liss and Sally's relationship is not always easy and there are very definite downs amongst the ups. But, eventually, through their friendship they both rediscover love, joy and hope. Tasting Sunlight was a delight to read. A gorgeous story of friendship, understanding and belonging. And of the importance of slowing down, appreciating nature and finding joy in the small things. Loved it.

The Author

Ewald Arenz was born in Nurnberg in 1965, where he now teaches. He has won various national and regional awards for literature; among them the Bavarian State Prize for Literature and the great Nuremberg Prize for Literature. One of seven children, he enjoys nature, woodturning, biking, swimming, and drinking tea. He lives with his family in Germany.

All the Way Home by Various Authors

Something a bit special on the blog today. All the Way Home a collection of writings from established Scottish writers and young people involved with the Rock Trust, Scotland's youth centred homelessness charity. I am delighted to share my review as part of the blog tour. Many thanks to Kelly Lacey at Love Books Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my review copy. As my copy of the book was kindly gifted to me I made a donation to the Rock Trust directly.

 

The Blurb

Rock Trust is Scotland’s youth-specific homelessness charity. Their aim is to end youth homelessness in Scotland by ensuring that every young person has access to expert youth specific services to assist them to avoid, survive and move on from homelessness. They advise, educate and support young people to enable them to build the personal skills and resources required to make a positive and healthy transition to adulthood. They also work to ensure that the public, policy makers, commissioners and practitioners understand the issues, make decisions and take action which will end youth homelessness. Find out more here.

Celebrating 30 years of Rock Trust, Scotland’s only charity committed to tackling youth homelessness, All the Way Home is an anthology of writing by both young people and established writers, including Kirstin Innes. Across poetry, fiction and personal accounts, the idea of ‘home’ is explored from a variety of perspectives: a thirteen year-old girl comes to terms with her unplanned pregnancy; a social worker takes a young orphan in search of his relatives; a group of immigrants from all across the world meet at a weekly Creative Writing class in Glasgow to discuss haiku. Together, this astonishing collection brings to life both the visible and invisible realities of home and homelessness, of family and belonging.

50% of all profits go directly to Rock Trust.

My Review

From Val McDermid's impassioned introduction in which she wants the Rock Trust to close down because them still being open and active means we haven't solved the homelessness problem in Scotland - 'If we classified homelessness as an in illness, in terms of the devastation it causes in the lives of those who suffer from it - there would be a public outcry....If homelessness were an illness, we'd be demanding a cure...' - I knew I was going to be in for something powerful. All The Way Home is a varied collection of essays, poems and personal testimonials that all have one thing in common - they touch on the theme of home and belonging. They include pieces in Gaelic (with translations, which took me far too long to work out!) and traditional Scots dialect.

I enjoyed Beth Godfrey's short story Home about not feeling at home at home and Stephen Keller's Embankment Tube about the experience of giving money to a homeless woman. There is a beautiful, haunting poem by Andrés N. Ordorica, who has contributed a number of poems to the collection, called St Andrew where he is yearning for home across the sea. A Sad Story of Home by Sara Sheridan featuring wee Arthur and Pluripotent by Jenny Fagan about a young girl losing her virginity both broke my heart and in Helen Sedgwick 's Snow Melts where a group of immigrants are discussing Haiku, there was one particular Haiku from their studies that has stuck with me, given the theme of this collection:

Late autumn -
A single chair waiting
For someone yet to come
- Arimo Akito

A poignant call  for an end to homelessness, perhaps.

But by far the most powerful pieces are the testimonials from three young people who have all experienced homelessness. It was heartbreaking to read of what they had been through, made me angry and ashamed, if I'm honest, that I don't do more. But it was heartwarming to hear of the help and support they had received from Rock Trust, the important work it does. I'm grateful those three young people felt brave enough to tell their stories. There are poems contributed by young people amongst the collection too.

I must agree with Val McDermid - it would be wonderful if Rock Trust wasn't needed because it would mean there was no youth homelessness in Scotland. But there is, whilst it remains a problem, I'm very glad that Rock Trust is there to support these vulnerable young people and wish them all the very best.