Kaori Ekuni Books

Toko teaches piano during the day, works at a bar at night and dreams of her disppeared lover every minute. Her ten-year-old daughter Soko, born out of this brief passionate affair that has marked Yoko for ever, lives around her mother's constant yearning, as Yoko's desperate search for the elusive man of her dreams means moving house more times than either of them can remember. The two travel through life on what Yoko calls "God's boat," in a journey through the rituals of everyday live, while beyond them lie the madness of love and the raw grief of loss --p. 4 of cover

They got married ten days ago. They haven't had sex yet and they don't intend to. As it turned out, the only way to make their parents get off their backs about trying to "find someone" was actually finding somone--with whom to put marriage for show. Mutsuki is stictly gay and has a boyfriend, while Shoko is a clinical case of emotional instability who's in no shape for a relationship. They've each found in the other a perfect partner for a sham marriage. Since the conspirators' parents know of their own child's undesirability, but not the spouse's, the union manages to please them. And while the newlyweds hope, in their own way, to live happily ever after, they inevitably come face t o face with the fact that no marriage real or staged, is a fairy tale.

あの夏の記憶だけ、いつまでもおなじあかるさでそこにある。つい今しがたのことみたいに―バニラアイスの木べらの味、ビニールプールのへりの感触、おはじきのたてる音、そしてすいかの匂い。無防備に出遭ってしまい、心に織りこまれてしまった事ども。おかげで困惑と痛みと自分の邪気を知り、私ひとりで、これは秘密、と思い決めた。11人の少女の、かけがえのない夏の記憶の物語。