{"title":"Books by Clara Kumagai","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781803288055","title":"Catfish Rolling","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE KPMG CHILDREN'S BOOKS IRELAND BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA dazzling debut. Magic-realism blends with Japanese myth and legend in an original story about grief, memory, time and an earthquake that shook a nation.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThere's a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSora hates the catfish whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. Now Sora and her scientist father live close to the zones – the wild and abandoned places where time runs faster or slower than normal. Sora is sensitive to the shifts, and her father recruits her help in exploring these liminal spaces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it's dangerous there – and as she strays further inside in search of her mother, she finds that time distorts, memories fracture and shadows, a glimmer of things not entirely human, linger. After Sora's father goes missing, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStylish, accomplished and thought-provoking story-telling explores themes of identity, philosophy, science, ecology, life, loss and love. For 14+\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307520242037,"sku":"9781803288055","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803288055_75901aed-dc30-4d1c-9e86-acfb75dcfb4c.jpg?v=1786027094"},{"product_id":"9781803288093","title":"Songs for Ghosts","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003eA beautiful and highly original voice'\u003ci\u003e \u003cb\u003eObserver\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003eA deeply satisfying read' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003ePure captivation from one of Ireland’s rising talents' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIrish Examiner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom \u003ci\u003eCatfish Rolling's\u003c\/i\u003e Clara Kumagai, a second novel full of longing, love and heartbreak, inspired by Puccini's \u003ci\u003eMadame Butterfly\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTurn the page, strike a chord.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are restless ghosts to be appeased...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Japanese-American teenager, Adam, discovers a diary in his attic, he is enthralled by its account of a young Japanese woman’s life. A hundred years separate them yet she, like Adam, is caught between cultures, relationships and heartbreak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy – until he too, begins to be haunted. It leads him to Nagasaki, trying to solve the mystery of the diary, and his own identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd the ghosts gather...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56369206460789,"sku":"9781803288093","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803288093_a2688b2e-0e11-4ed9-9b51-79653136d339.jpg?v=1786027095"},{"product_id":"catfish-rolling","title":"Catfish Rolling","description":"\u003cb\u003e“Excellent, evocative, and thoughtful with genuine depth” (\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Nicola Yoon), \u003ci\u003eCatfish Rolling\u003c\/i\u003e is a wholly original and mind-bending debut YA novel by Clara Kumagai about memory, family, and an earthquake that breaks apart time.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e There’s a catfish under Japan, and when it rolls the land rises and falls. At least that’s what Sora was told after she lost her mother to an earthquake so powerful that it cracked time itself. Sora and her father are some of the few who still live near one of these “zones”—the places where time has been irrevocably sped up or slowed down.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Sora’s father leads a research team studying the zones, and even as his colleagues begin to fall ill, he refuses to stop entering the zones himself. Sora finds herself stuck and increasingly alone as her father starts behaving strangely—he’s disoriented and his memory seems to be deteriorating. Sora, meanwhile, has been secretly conducting her own research on the zones, tracking down a time expert in Tokyo and surprising herself with a crush on a strikingly confident girl named Maya, another hafu girl with whom she forms an instant bond.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But when Sora’s father disappears, she has no choice but to return home, with Maya in tow, and venture deep into the abandoned time zones to find him and perhaps the catfish itself . . .","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483450286453,"sku":"9781419768514","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781419768514.jpg?v=1786178616"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-clara-kumagai.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}