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The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World: A Novel

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Arrives Friday, May 2
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Description

Laura Imai Messina’s international bestselling novel is a story about grief, mourning, and the joy of survival, inspired by a real phone booth in Japan with its disconnected “wind” phone, a place of pilgrimage and solace since the 2011 tsunami. Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is the signpost pointing to the healing that can come after. When Yui loses both her mother and her daughter in the tsunami, she begins to mark the passage of time from that date onward: Everything is relative to March 11, 2011, the day the tsunami tore Japan apart and when grief took hold of her life. Yui struggles to continue on, alone with her pain. Then one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone booth in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone booth spreads, people travel to it from miles around. Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone booth. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Instead she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of her mother’s death. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harry N. Abrams (October 4, 2022)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1419754319


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 19


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.35 x 8.25 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #29,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #179 in Cultural Heritage Fiction #891 in Family Life Fiction (Books) #2,670 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#179 in Cultural Heritage Fiction:


#891 in Family Life Fiction (Books):


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Friday, May 2

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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Remarkable, Memorable Story of Grief, Grace, Healing, and Hope
This gentle book will not let me go. The book tells a simple story about grief and loss that feels intensely personal but is entirely universal. Every life has loss. And every life needs grace. This book is full of grace as people learn to cope with the unimaginable. The process is not fast, and it is not easy. This story begins after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami at Fukishima. Yui, our main character, lost her daughter and her mother to the tsunami. Yui hosts a call-in radio show and that is where she hears of the wind phone. The wind phone is a real place that plays a big role in this novel. It remains open to all. We follow Yui’s literal and symbolic journey to the wind phone and meet her fellow travelers. The book is filled with sadness but infused with hope and healing. The author has written a story with great empathy and a delicate touch. I underestimated the impact of this book at the beginning, but as it progressed, I found myself immersed in its world. This is a book that will make you a better person with more empathy and a better understanding of humanity. It is a book that I will recommend and probably buy again. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2021 by Constant Reader

  • Touching Story
This is a love story set during a painful loss. Well written. But not a page turner. Tender and loving.
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023 by Dave Lanford

  • Have kleenex ready
What a magical heartbreaking soul inspiring read. The line betwee fictional and factual dissappears and brings to life the story of grief, loss, love, hope, and dreaming within each of us. Written in a odd style that appears to be off putting to some in others reviews. Yes it is a different style of writing but I found that that is where the lines of fictional and factual were erased. This is a story worth being written as much as read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024 by Andrew Andrew

  • The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World, novel
Thought the book was very intriguing. Shared it with my sister who deals with a lot of people who are grieving as she is a Hospice chaplain. The book arrived in perfect condition.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023 by Debra

  • a tedious read
It wasn't necessarily bad, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it decent. In my opinion, the author's portrayal of grief is quite shallow and surface-level. The pacing may be perfect for someone else that has the brain capacity to understand it, but for me it was gruesome at best and exhausting at worst. Despite the author's efforts, I did not feel connected to any of the characters. The vocabulary and diction does not reflect sorrow. Grief for me has always been something wild and frenzied in contrast of the quiet and almost monotonous way the author writes it. This book was not for me. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2023 by 🪷

  • A beautifully written book.
I very much enjoyed the fluidity of the writing and the cast of characters that told the story. The basis of the story was the great sunami that hit the region and a park that was made to honor those killed in the sunami.
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2023 by Disappointed in Newport

  • Slow moving but the emotional impact is deep
This is a slow moving book and English is obviously not the primary language - I felt the slow and simple pace of the book allowed room for the reader to be more deeply impacted. This is a beautiful picture of what it feels like to walk through the grief process and shows both the pain and the beauty of healing. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2021 by tina

  • It’s a hard read
I enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone that’s grieving. It’s a slow read yet very eye opening
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2023 by Sebastien Paul

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