I don’t know where I first heard about this novel. I think it was one of the Lit Hub Recommends emails, which is a fabulous resource.
Here is the blurb …
Nao lives in Tokyo. She is sixteen, and has decided to write a diary before she kills herself, she particularly wants to chronicle the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Ruth lives on the Pacific coast of Canada. A few months after the 2010 tsunami she finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore.
This is a beautiful, enchanting novel. Like Ruth, I wanted to keep reading Nao’s story. The structure is fabulous, we switch between Nao’s and Ruth’s perspective. Learning about their lives both inner and outer. Who knew that Japanese school children could be so brutal?
A review