The Phone Box at the Edge of the World: The most moving, unforgettable book you will read, inspired by true events

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Yui is intrigued and makes the drive from Tokyo. Along the way, she meets Takeshi, who lost his wife, and whose young daughter, Hana, is mute following her mother’s death, and together they find Bell Gardia, the garden “on a hill in the middle of nowhere” with the wind phone. I enjoyed the details added at the end of each chapter to give extra depth to the topic. Some of the addendums were lighthearted whereas others were really sombre and sad.

World English language rights were bought from Maria Cristina Guerra, agent at Grandi & Associati, by Sophie Orme, editorial director at Bonnier Books UK. Foreign language rights have already been sold into 17 territories. Longer chapters are punctuated by shorter ones, some written as lists (“Ten things plus one that Hana and Akiko loved doing together”), others as fragments, a single word, or an in-depth look and what had otherwise seemed like a secondary observation. These ultimately add to the experience: revealing a relationship through quieter moments, serving as a break in the tension or offering a different lens to reflect upon the previous chapter. The harrowing aftermath of a natural disaster strips away normality with the sudden and unprepared death of loved ones and the destruction of property. Yui is heartbroken following a Tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March 2011 and took her mother and young daughter’s lives. Yui radiates a reverent sorrow, which captures the sense of loss. Amidst heartbreak and tenderness, she tries making sense of everything through a shroud of grief. A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief and the small miraculous moments that persuade people to start looking forward again' - Sunday TimesLaura Imai Messina’s novel is a beautifully written story that flows through ravaged loss, desolation, resilience, hope, and the promise of a future with love and peace. The Phone Box at the End of the World is a book that gently enriches the soul and beats with a loving serenity. When I speak of my indifference, what I mean is that I think it’s a powerful story with many interesting explorations of grief, the meaning of family, and belonging, but I don’t think it was quite grounded enough for me. The beautiful writing coupled with the split narrative (which switched between Yui’s story and various other digressions such as lists relating to her daughter or quotes from the bible) meant that the whole thing was a bit messy for me, and didn’t include enough solid plot to keep me interested. Every morning and every evening she would go to the information center with the same query. Two names and two descriptions: the pigtails, the mid-length gray hair, the color of a skirt, the mole on a stomach. Cosa vi ha reso più semplice alzarvi la mattina e andare a letto la sera dopo un grande lutto? Cosa vi permette di stare bene quando vi sentite afflitti?» A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.

I think the book triumphs mainly in the small moments, like when Yui remembers the way her daughter used to dress, or the way she used to sing on the train – it is a stark reminder that we don’t know how long we have left with our loved ones so we should really learn to cherish every moment. For me, the Wind Phone is mainly this: a metaphor that suggests how precious it is to hold on tight to joy as well as pain. That even when we are confronted by the subtractions, the things that life takes from us, we have to open ourselves up to the many additions it can offer too."Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' - Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars Takeshi goes into the phone box and talks to his wife. Yui walks in the garden and doesn't talk to her mother or her daughter. She looks at the ocean and eats chocolate to hold the nausea at bay. But even in the very first days, she went and looked at the ocean. That isn't explained in the book, to me, it is a refusal to let the beauty of nature be lost to its cruelty. Each main chapter in the book is separated by concise interluding chapters that act as random fragmented memories. A receipt for a frame, a description of an object, a list of the ten most vivid memories of a person, what Yui’s mother and daughter were wearing on the morning of 11 March 2011, Yui’s favourite Brazilian songs, the original title of the picture book on the afterlife that Yui gave to Hana. The emotional context of the story is very delicately drawn, and the interactions between characters are inviting, with a cautious and fragile dialogue. In parts, it is also a reflection on religion. What it is and what it is for, and what we do instead of it if we have no such beliefs. Maybe it takes an atheist to need a disconnected telephone, where the Buddhist would simply stand in front of the family butsudan and do exactly the same thing. Or an animist/pantheist or whatever else it is I might be to go sit on a beach and speak to the waves.

Depending on what you were told at the information center, you belonged to one of two groups: those who knew and those who were waiting. Sometimes people would go on to another shelter, where they'd find the people they had been waiting for waiting for them. E così per elaborare il lutto, su una collina, installarono una cabina telefonica bianca, con un telefono vero, ma senza fili: questa è una cabina telefonica molto particolare, è un luogo dove sfogarsi, dove imparare a convivere con il dolore della perdita di una persona cara. Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone booth, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Instead she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of her mother’s death. myself becoming the person I was before, my wife listening to me from the kitchen, busy preparing breakfast or dinner, me grumbling that the coffee burned my tongue.

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The blurb reads: “Struggling to come to terms with her grief, she hears a story about a man who has an old disused telephone box in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone box spreads, people travel there from miles around. Soon Yui makes a pilgrimage to the phone box, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Then she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking...”