The Phone Box at the Edge of the World – Laura Imai Messina

I received ‘The Phone Box at the Edge of the World’ by Laura Imai Messina (translated by Lucy Rand) as part of my fiction subscription with @Bertsbooks. The idea of this book is beautiful, and the cover has a delicate, pretty design.

The book follows Yui following the death of her mother and daughter in the tsunami, in Japan. She learns of a phone box which allows you talk to your lost loved ones and decides to travel there to try it for herself.

On her journey she meets Takeshi, a husband who is dealing with the grief of losing his daughter.

Once they reach the garden they learn of its history and the stories of some that choose to visit the phone box.

The story explores the stages of grief and the emotions between two strangers who are trying to deal with the enormous devastation of their losses.

I found this book to be beautiful and very emotional. I lost someone close myself two years ago and reading this helped me to understand that the ways I dealt with the grief were normal. There were some shorter chapters in-between which broke up the story, giving extra information and insights into the story. I really enjoyed reading this lovely book.

Overall, a very emotional but uplifting story about grief.

Rating:

💜💜💜💜/5