The difficult second novel - but not for readers!

 

Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley (Transworld)

Back in 2020 one of my friends was raving about a book called The Cat and The City and was insistent I had to stop everything and read it *now*. I was decidedly skeptical as Alison and I do not often share the same taste in books. I am glad that I listened to her as the book was excellent and I've been keeping my eyes out for the author's next book.

Four Seasons in Japan has just come out and it was, I think, even better. This is a clever book that uses the 'book in a book' device to weave two beautiful stories - one about Flo (a character we met in The Cat) who is looking for her next translation project and then the book she finds and falls in love with.

All of the characters jumped off the page for me and I loved the slight air of mystery and 'out of time' feeling I got from the book. Being a fan of translated fiction I also really liked the parts of the book that looked at this process.

Alison and I went to Nick's book launch this week and as he talked about the book I fell in love with it even more, so many little nuances that are obvious now I think about is, and also knowing how personal parts of the book are but without being autobiographical.

Nick also admitted that this was his second difficult novel - well in fact as the original 2nd novel was scrapped (bar three ideas) perhaps it should be known as the brilliant third novel - but as a reader I definitely didn't feel this at all and really hope that the book does brilliantly.

Many thanks to Transworld for allowing me to read this book early via NetGalley