Rainbirds

Clarissa Goenawan

• 19 maart 2019
• 9781641290180

Samenvatting:

Set in an imagined town outside Tokyo, Clarissa Goenawan&;s dark, spellbinding literary debut follows a young man&;s path to self-discovery in the wake of his sister&;s murder.

Ren Ishida has nearly completed his graduate degree at Keio University when he receives news of his sister&;s violent death. Keiko was stabbed one rainy night on her way home, and there are no leads. Ren heads to Akakawa to conclude his sister&;s affairs, failing to understand why she chose to turn her back on the family and Tokyo for this desolate place years ago.

But then Ren is offered Keiko&;s newly vacant teaching position at a prestigious local cram school and her bizarre former arrangement of free lodging at a wealthy politician&;s mansion in exchange for reading to the man&;s ailing wife. He accepts both, abandoning Tokyo and his crumbling relationship there in order to better understand his sister&;s life and what took place the night of her death.

As Ren comes to know the eccentric local figures, from the enigmatic politician who&;s boarding him to his fellow teachers and a rebellious, captivating young female student, he delves into his shared childhood with Keiko and what followed. Haunted in his dreams by a young girl who is desperately trying to tell him something, Ren realizes that Keiko Ishida kept many secrets, even from him.