Why read Cold Enough for Snow?

Book cover of Cold Enough for Snow

Book description

A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city's most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about…

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Cold Enough for Snow as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Diane Josefowicz

Author

Jessica Au’s debut novella, Cold Enough for Snow, follows a mother and daughter as they vacation together in Tokyo in a last-ditch attempt to strengthen their fragile bond.

I loved this slim and stylish story, wrought in spare yet atmospheric prose that gorgeously evokes the fraught connection between the protagonists and echoes through Au’s renderings of the Tokyo cityscape.

There are no easy answers to their problems with themselves and each other, but Au generously imagines their different lives and their shared predicament of how to reach one another after so much strain.

From Diane's 3 favorite reads in 2023.