In My Father’s Room

On her fortieth birthday, Satomi receives an unexpected letter from her father, sent from an unfamiliar address. The only thing that falls from the envelope is an ordinary key. There is no letter, no explanation, and asking her father is impossible: he died a month ago. Her first tentative attempts to find out more from her mother lead nowhere, and neither his ashes nor his beloved tea bowl can provide any answers. But Satomi has become determined to learn more about her father’s final days, which he spent far removed from her and her mother. Especially since her mother holds him in deep contempt, going so far as to describe him as a useless person. Satomi begins a search for the man her father truly was, through the carefully chosen words of his poetry, the deliberate movements of the tea ceremony, and a mysterious room in an unfamiliar place.