Cambridge Edition January 2021 - Web

BOOK CLUB

CAMBRIDGE EDI T ION

WITH DARKER NIGHTS ON THE HORIZON FOR A FEW MORE MONTHS, GETTING LOST IN A BRILLIANT BOOK IS A SURE-FIRE WAY TO PASS AN ENJOYABLE EVENING. HERE’S A ROUND-UP OF SOME RECENT RELEASES TO ADD TO YOUR LIST

WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS

MEMORIAL BY BRYAN WASHINGTON

On paper, this book’s set-up feels like the most unlikely situation – yet as Terry Pratchett wrote, “million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.” In this case Benson, a black nursery teacher, and his boyfriend Mike, a Japanese-American chef, are avoiding discussing their dwindling relationship when Mike decides to travel to Japan to say goodbye to his estranged, dying father. Unfortunately for Benson, Mike’s mother, Mitsuko, has arrived in Texas for a visit a few hours before Mike decides to leave for the other side of the world. After days of silence, Benson and Mitsuko slowly become unlikely room-mates: connecting in ways they could not have foreseen – while in Japan, Mike discovers the truth about his parents and, by extension, himself. Once the anger and hurt subsides, there’s a lot of love in these characters’ worlds: they just might have been looking in the wrong places.

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C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K

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