IF YOU LIKED THE HIGHEST TIDE…..

Sixteen year old Nao is overwhelmed by loneliness, cruelty and the weight of the world. She makes a decision to end her life but first she starts writing the story of her great-grandmother, a 100-year-old buddhist nun.

Halfway across the world Ruth finds Nao’s diary inside a washed up Hello Kitty lunchbox and becomes completely consumed by the mystery. Who is Nao? What happened to her? How long has her diary been floating around in the ocean?

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A raw display of intergenerational trauma. An exploration into the folds of time.

This book felt like magic. I’m not someone who enjoys sci fi or fantasy books so i was skeptical of this one. I kid you not but by the third sentence on the first page... I was hooked.

Nao’s voice felt like a friend.

I learned so much about life in Japan like the culture of kids in school. Bullying is a whole other game over there.

A Tale For The Time Being is tender and completely immersive. It’s a story about connection and memory and what it means to exist in this exact moment.

This was a perfect book to me.

Perfect pacing.

Characters I was completely consumed by and who continued to become more and more developed through the story.

Magical. Just so fucking magical.

Sad. Empowering.

Heartbreaking. Uplifting.

Everything all at once.

(5/5 stars)