Description

Sisters Rei, Kiki and Ai have always had to look out for one another, but life has taken them on very different paths.

Eldest daughter Rei is spiky and sensible, consumed by her London finance job. Big-hearted Kiki is a single mother, working in a Tokyo retirement home. The free-spirited youngest, Ai, is a Japanese pop idol who has found fame and fortune – until a scandal spins her life into chaos . . .

Together, the three sisters retreat to the remote seaside town where they grew up. But returning home means facing the long shadow of their mother’s death, and the lives they’ve built without each other.

Transporting, funny and moving, Kakigori Summer is an uplifting exploration of love, loss, and finding your way home.

Publisher Review

I adore Emily Itami’s writing . . . Kakigori Summer is a novel about belonging, both within a family and the wider world, and I loved retreating into its cocoon of sibling humour as the sisters briefly stepped back to discover their place in it. Cosy, dreamy, although you’re never too far from a line that’s sharply astute — FLORENCE KNAPP, author of THE NAMES I loved Kakigori Summer . . . The sisters felt completely real, my sympathies finely balanced between all three of them and their different internal struggles were beautifully and poignantly evoked . . . I loved the well-crafted prose, the distinctive, slightly acerbic turns of phrase . . . joyful and uplifting too: the romantic and hopeful ending felt just right — KATE MURRAY-BROWNE, author of ONE GIRL BEGAN This novel had me hooked from the first chapter. Three sisters, Japan, the complexities of family bonds, love and loss. I got totally immersed in their lives. It’s funny and insightful and poignant and uplifting . . . And a rare accolade – the most excellent and satisfying ending! — KAREN ANGELICO, author of EVERYTHING WE ARE An inviting and wistful tale of three sisters who reunite during a crisis . . . Itami strikes just the right chord, showing how the sisters indulge their nostalgia for happier times even as they attempt to reckon with their painful memories. Readers are in for a treat * Publisher’s Weekly *