A Single Rose

By: Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson - translator

Narrated by: Hannah Curtis

From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a story about a woman's journey to discover the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.

Rose has just turned 40 when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father’s will. And so, for the first time in her life, she finds herself in Japan, where Paul, her father’s assistant, is waiting to greet her.

As Paul guides Rose along a mysterious itinerary designed by her deceased father, her bitterness and anger are soothed by the stones and the trees in the Zen gardens they move through. During their walks, Rose encounters acquaintances of her father - including a potter and poet, an old lady friend, his housekeeper and chauffeur - whose interactions help her to slowly begin to accept a part of herself that she has never before acknowledged.

As the reading of the will gets closer, Rose’s father finally, posthumously, opens his heart to his daughter, offering her a poignant understanding of his love and a way to accept all she has lost.

©2021 Europa Editions (P)2021 Europa Editions

Critic reviews

“It is a joy to take a stroll with Rose and Paul while savoring the beauty of camellias, peonies, and wild irises, in a world of muted, delicate colors and to the sound of their elegant words.” (Ouest-France)

“This plaintive novel impresses with its smoothness.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Though A Single Rose is centered around vulnerable, tenacious Rose, its core is found in its Japanese setting. The novel balances lush, cultivated gardens and weighted symbolism with mischievous foxes, matcha, sliced eel, and sushi, all forming 'one happy chaos' and a fascinating maze of emotional release.” (Foreword Reviews)

A Beautiful Book

Beautiful images of Kyoto with a story to support them. The temple and gardens are very real. Perhaps she could write of other Japanese towns. The writing is lovely.