It is 1972 and twelve year old Tomoko leaves her mother to temporarily live with her aunt and family in a village near the mountains. Unlike Tomoko, her relatives are wealthy; her uncle inherited a popular soft drink company. Tomoko becomes close with this eccentric family, but especially with her brilliant, asthmatic cousin, Mina.

I didn’t realize until I had finished this novel that Yoko Ogawa had also written The Housekeeper and the Professor – a work I greatly admire. I enjoyed Mina’s Matchbox just as much. Written from Tomoko’s point of view, her year with these relatives is told in simple prose, yet her observations are perceptive, insightful and heart felt. Her telling is emotional without being dramatic. I must read more of Yoko Ogawa’s books.