Mina's Matchbox - Yoko Ogawa offers an unforgettable oral testimony

offers an unforgettable oral testimony of the dark days of recent European history

they plan her escape

while playfully calling into question the very form of the novel

as the Black Death ravages their city

Mina's Matchbox - Yoko Ogawa offers an unforgettable oral testimonyAfter 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