Minas Matchbox

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

A story of friendship and family secrets in 1970s Japan, from the prizewinning author of The Memory Police.

On sleepless nights, I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting stars.

'I read Mina's Matchbox like a besotted child, enraptured, never wanting it to end.' RUTH OZEKI, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness

After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya. It is a year which will change her life.

The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet. Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling.

Rich with the magic and mystery of youth, Mina's Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.

Praise for Mina's Matchbox

'Dreamy and whimsical, Mina's Matchbox traffics in the themes at which Ogawa always excels- memory, identity, and nostalgia' Esquire, Best Books of the Summer

'A conspicuously gifted writer. . . To read Ogawa is to enter a dreamlike state. . . She possesses an effortless, glassy, eerie brilliance' Guardian
'Evokes the secret crushes and crushing secrets of girlhood with charm and elegance' People

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781529933536
Published: August 2025

Number of pages: 288
Width: 131 mm
Height: 197 mm
Depth: 18 mm

Publisher: Vintage Publishing