A life-affirming 21st century fable in the tradition of Laura Esquival and Joanne Harris, from a rising star of women's fiction in Japan.
In this tale of a woman finding herself, a young city housewife, Maria, visits a southern island looking for her husband who has vanished six weeks previously. She befriends a rather charming middle aged midwife and doula, Mrs. Tsurukame, who runs a maternity clinic to help people realize the wonder of childbirth and life itself. She has attracted an assortment of odd characters, from a young Vietnamese midwife trainee with a secret past, to an aging lonely fisherman, as well as a young traveler who has never traveled before. After learning she is pregnant, Maria decides to stay on the island to give birth to her first child. While helping out at the clinic, she slowly learns about the natural healing power of her own hands. Soaking in the island sunshine, fresh food, kind friends, and natural joys and sorrows of life, she begins to face and cope with her own childhood tragedy.
This modern fable of shedding the armor of an urban lifestyle to be born again, has sold more than 200,000 copies in Japan, and was made into a national TV series. The Island of Expectations is a gentle story of finding meaning and purpose in the natural rhythms of life.
In this tale of a woman finding herself, a young city housewife, Maria, visits a southern island looking for her husband who has vanished six weeks previously. She befriends a rather charming middle aged midwife and doula, Mrs. Tsurukame, who runs a maternity clinic to help people realize the wonder of childbirth and life itself. She has attracted an assortment of odd characters, from a young Vietnamese midwife trainee with a secret past, to an aging lonely fisherman, as well as a young traveler who has never traveled before. After learning she is pregnant, Maria decides to stay on the island to give birth to her first child. While helping out at the clinic, she slowly learns about the natural healing power of her own hands. Soaking in the island sunshine, fresh food, kind friends, and natural joys and sorrows of life, she begins to face and cope with her own childhood tragedy.
This modern fable of shedding the armor of an urban lifestyle to be born again, has sold more than 200,000 copies in Japan, and was made into a national TV series. The Island of Expectations is a gentle story of finding meaning and purpose in the natural rhythms of life.
Used availability for Ito Ogawa's The Island of Expectation