The Heartbeat Library
A Novel
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4.0 • 8 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The Heartbeat Library is a tender, contemplative, and uplifting novel about grief, friendship, and the many ways we heal, by the internationally bestselling author of The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World.
On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo.
Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, who returns to his hometown to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house.
Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows, until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats . . .
Enchanting, touching, and emotionally riveting, The Heartbeat Library is a story about loss and hope, pain and joy, reality and imagination, and the promise of healing and overcoming the odds thanks to the relationships we build and rediscover.
Inspired by Les Archives du Cœur, an art installation in Japan that permanently houses recordings of the heartbeats of people throughout the world, Laura Imai Messina returns in this novel to the themes and atmospheres of her internationally bestselling novel The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World, combining a real-life pilgrimage site of healing with an unforgettable and heartwarming story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A grieving man forges an unexpected friendship with a young boy in this gentle novel from Messina (The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World). Picture book illustrator Maeda Shūichi returns from Tokyo to Kamakura after his mother's death to prepare her house for sale. There, he catches eight-year-old Kenta rummaging through his mother's things, and learns the boy spent his afternoons with Shūichi's mother to escape his tense home life. Shūichi agrees to let Kenta keep visiting the house and protects him from bullies. Meanwhile, Kenta shares with Shūichi glimpses of a livelier side to his mother, who overprotected him as a boy due to his heart murmur. On a trip to Tokyo with Kenta, Shūichi reveals to Sayaka, a mortician he keeps bumping into around town and feels a spark with, that his own son drowned two years before and that his marriage fell apart as a result. Shūichi and Kenta then visit an art installation in Naoshima called the Archives of Heartbeats, which collects recordings of people's heartbeats. There, Shūichi is met with a surprise, prompting him to offer Kenta a more meaningful role in his life. The story is a bit simplistic, but Messina's light touch allows for genuine moments of connection between the characters. This brims with feeling.
