A tale for the time being

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home.

Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl.

She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami.

With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery.

In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life.

In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place - and voice - through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her. Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.