Sweet Bean Paste

 'I'm in story heaven with this book.' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S. I Love YouA charming tale of friendship, love and loneliness in contemporary JapanSentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.But everything is about to change.Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed,with devastating consequences.Sweet Bean Paste is a moving novel about the burden of the past and the redemptive power of friendship. Translated into English for the first time, Durian Sukegawa’s beautiful prose is capturing hearts all over the world.

‘Simply delicious.’, ‘I'm in story heaven with this book.’, ‘Charmingly written, the plot is a continual surprise. A tale of sorrow that feels uplifting by its end.’, ‘As wise as it is moving, Sukegawa’s novel beguiles and seduces the reader from evocative opening to compassionate close.’, ‘A poignant, poetic fable.’

Durian Sukegawa studied oriental philosophy at Waseda University, before going on to work as a reporter in Berlin and Cambodia in the early 1990s. He has written a number of books and essays, TV programmes and films. He lives in Tokyo.Alison Watts is a freelance translator, translating literature from Japanese into English. She lives in Ibaraki, Japan.