A Single Rose

From the bestselling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a story about a woman’s journey, in which she discovers the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.

Rose has turned forty, but has barely begun to live. When her Japanese father dies and she finds herself an orphan, she leaves France for Kyoto to hear the reading of his will. Paul, her father’s assistant, takes Rose on a mysterious pilgrimage designed by her deceased father. Her bitterness is soothed by the temples, Zen gardens and teahouses, and by her encounters with her father’s friends. As she recognises what she has lost, and as secrets are divulged, Rose learns to accept a part of herself that she has never before acknowledged.

Through her father’s itinerary, he opens his heart posthumously to his daughter, and Rose finds love where she least expects it. This stunning fifth novel from international bestseller Muriel Barbery is a mesmerising story of second chances, of beauty born out of grief.

Muriel Barbery was born in Morocco in 1969. She is the author of four previous novels, Gourmet Rhapsody, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which sold over six million copies worldwide, The Life of Elves and A Strange Country. She has lived in Kyoto and Amsterdam and now lives in the French countryside.

Alison Anderson’s many translations include novels by Nobel Prize winner J-M.G. Le Clézio, Anna Galvada, Amélie Nothomb, Hélène Grémillon, as well as Muriel Barbery’s earlier novels. 

‘Muriel Barbery sows beauty on every page.’ Elle

‘An ode to Japan…a magnificent, resonant, finely crafted novel.’ Le Monde