Sentaro runs a tiny dorayaki shop, selling pancakes filled with sweet bean paste, and he is stuck in a life he did not choose, having served a prison sentence. One day an elderly woman named Tokue asks for a job, and her hands are bent and scarred. She offers to make the bean paste, called an, and her recipe transforms the shop's sales. A schoolgirl named Wakana also befriends them. When customers learn that Tokue once lived in a sanatorium for Hansen's disease, prejudice threatens the shop. Durian Sukegawa treats the story with quiet attention to cooking and patience.
A gentle, moving novel for readers who like Japanese fiction about food, work, and dignity. It is short, calm, and ultimately sad.
Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2013
- Language
- EN
