One Hour of Fervour by Muriel Barbery (Gallic Books, 2024)
Fiction
Muriel Barbery: One Hour of Fervour (ISBN: 9781913547608, hardback), which tells the story of Japanese art dealer Haru, and a dreadful promise he was forced to make that kept him from his daughter, Rose. Her story was told first, in The Single Rose, set in Kyoto after Haru’s death. Barbery writes deftly of love – never soppy, sometimes unflinching, usually kind - and I can’t wait to meet Haru and learn more of his enduring love for a daughter he can never meet.