The Lantern of Lost Memories

In a small photo shop in Japan, Hirasaki works magic. When the newly dead arrive, they pick one photo from each year of their life to add to a lantern that allows them to view a record of their life before they pass on to whatever is next. Hirasaki also offers them each a chance to go back to one moment that made them happy and take a new photo. In this short book, listeners meet three characters: a 92-year-old woman who was once a school teacher in post–WWII Japan, a 47-year-old member of the yakuza, and a five-year-old who has died at the hands of her parents. Hiiragi’s first novel to be published in English, which is steeped in Japanese culture and mythology, is a whimsical, heartfelt, and nostalgic look at life. Hanako Footman beautifully narrates this strange tale of life and death with all the humor and heartache that listeners could want.