A novel in which very little appears to happen, yet almost everything is at stake.

During a trip through Japan, a daughter and her elderly mother visit museums, gardens, cafés and hotels, moving through a series of understated conversations that circle memory, migration, art, ageing and the distance that can exist between even those closest to one another. What remains unsaid becomes as significant as what is spoken.

Written in lucid, finely controlled prose, the novel belongs to a tradition of minimalist literary fiction associated with writers such as Yasunari Kawabata, Rachel Cusk and W.G. Sebald, though Au's voice is entirely her own. It is a book of observation and atmosphere rather than plot, attentive to architecture, landscapes and small domestic rituals, asking how we inherit ways of seeing the world from those who came before us. A quietly devastating novel for readers drawn to contemplative fiction, interiority and the emotional resonance of everyday life.

Paperback. First edition, 2022, Giramondo Publishing. Light shelf wear; clean throughout with a tight, square binding.