From the National Book Award nominated,
New York Times bestselling author of
A Short History of Women and
The Sunken Cathedral, Walbert’s beautiful and heartbreaking novel about a young woman coming of age in the long shadow of World War II—“An intricately plotted, thrillingly imagined narrative...A masterpiece” (
The New York Times Book Review).
Forty years after enduring the Second World War as a young woman, Ellen relates the events of this turbulent period, beginning with the death of her favorite cousin, Randall, with whom she shared Easter Sundays, childhood secrets, and, perhaps, the first taste of love. When he dies on Iwo Jima, she turns to the legacy he left her: his diary and a book called
The Gardens of Kyoto. Each one subtly influences her perception of her place in the world, the nature of her memories.
Moving back and forth through time and place, Kate Walbert recreates a world touched by the shadows of war and a society in which women fit their desires into prescribed roles. Unfolding in lyrical, seductive prose,
The Gardens of Kyoto becomes a mesmerizing exploration of the interplay of love and loss.
Randall was Ellen's favorite cousin. When he dies on Iwo Jima, she turns to the legacy he left her: his diary and a book called "The Gardens of Kyoto." Unfolding in lyrical, seductive prose, her story becomes a mesmerizing exploration of the interplay of love and loss.
Francine Prose Elle This lovely, original novel...[examines] the gauzy web of fictions we spin to protect our loved ones from the barbed truths of the past.
