A Tale for the Time Being
- 2 Jun 2022
- 9781838856250
- £9.99
- 464 pp
- 129×198mm
- 11 Mar 2013
- 9780857867988
- £7.99
- 464 pp
- 11 Mar 2013
- 9780857869470
- £25
- 14 hrs 42 min
In a few words
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, this is a timeless and compassionate novel about what it means to be human
In a few words
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, this is a timeless and compassionate novel about what it means to be human
In a few words
Read unabridged by the author: this is a story about some of the most brilliant and beguiling questions of our existence. It includes: a lost diary, a Hello Kitty lunchbox, a 104-year old Buddhist nun, her great granddaughter Nao, a lonely father and a catfish that causes an earthquake
This is one of the most deeply moving and thought-provoking novels I have read in a long time. In precise and luminous prose, Ozeki captures both the sweep and detail of our shared humanity, moving seamlessly between Nao's story and our own
Madeline Miller
author of THE SONG OF ACHILLESA triumph . . . Ozeki explores what it means to be human in this moment, right now (Nao). Her novel is saturated with love, ideas and compassion. In short, an absolute treat
Lucy Atkins
Sunday TimesBewitching, intelligent and heartbreaking . . . Nao is an inspired narrator and her quest to tell her great grandmother's story, to connect with her past and with the larger world, is both aching and true. Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists and here she is at her absolute best
Junot Díaz
A Tale for the Time Being is a timeless story. Ruth Ozeki beautifully renders not only the devastation of the collision between man and the natural world, but also the often miraculous results of it. She is a deeply intelligent and humane writer who offers her insights with a grace that beguiles. I truly love this novel
Alice Sebold
Bewitching, intelligent and heartbreaking . . . Nao is an inspired narrator and her quest to tell her great grandmother's story, to connect with her past and with the larger world, is both aching and true. Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists and here she is at her absolute best
Junot Díaz
A Tale for the Time Being is a timeless story. Ruth Ozeki beautifully renders not only the devastation of the collision between man and the natural world, but also the often miraculous results of it. She is a deeply intelligent and humane writer who offers her insights with a grace that beguiles. I truly love this novel
Alice Sebold
More about
the book
In the wake of the 2011 tsunami, Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home in British Columbia. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes, heartbreak and dreams of a young girl desperate for someone to understand her. Each turn of the page pulls Ruth deeper into the mystery of Nao’s life, and forever changes her in a way neither could foresee.
Weaving across continents and decades, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.
More about
the book
In the wake of the 2011 tsunami, Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home in British Columbia. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes, heartbreak and dreams of a young girl desperate for someone to understand her. Each turn of the page pulls Ruth deeper into the mystery of Nao’s life, and forever changes her in a way neither could foresee.
Weaving across continents and decades, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.
More about
the book
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013
‘Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.’
Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery.
In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place – and voice – through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her.
Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.
A Tale for the Time Being is a timeless story. Ruth Ozeki beautifully renders not only the devastation of the collision between man and the natural world, but also the often miraculous results of it. She is a deeply intelligent and humane writer who offers her insights with a grace that beguiles. I truly love this novel
Alice Sebold
Ingenious and touching, A Tale for the Time Being is also highly readable. And interesting: the contrast of cultures is especially well done
Philip Pullman
A beautifully interwoven novel about magic and loss and the incomprehensible threads that connect our lives. I just finished it, and loved it
Elizabeth Gilbert
author of EAT, PRAY, LOVEFunny, heartbreaking, moving and profound . . . The warmth, compassion, wisdom and insight with which Ozeki pieces all these stories together will have the reader linked in a similarly profound way to this fantastic novel
Doug Johnstone
IndependentThis is one of the most deeply moving and thought-provoking novels I have read in a long time. In precise and luminous prose, Ozeki captures both the sweep and detail of our shared humanity, moving seamlessly between Nao's story and our own
Madeline Miller
author of THE SONG OF ACHILLESIngenious and touching, A Tale for the Time Being is also highly readable. And interesting: the contrast of cultures is especially well done
Philip Pullman
A beautifully interwoven novel about magic and loss and the incomprehensible threads that connect our lives. I just finished it, and loved it
Elizabeth Gilbert
author of EAT, PRAY, LOVEA Tale for the Time Being is a downright miraculous book that will captivate you from the very first page. Profoundly original, with authentic, touching characters and grand, encompassing themes, Ruth Ozeki proves that truly great stories - like this one - can both deepen our understanding of self and remind us of our shared humanity
Deborah Harkness
author of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHESThis is one of the most deeply moving and thought-provoking novels I have read in a long time. In precise and luminous prose, Ozeki captures both the sweep and detail of our shared humanity, moving seamlessly between Nao's story and our own
Madeline Miller
author of THE SONG OF ACHILLESIngenious and touching, A Tale for the Time Being is also highly readable. And interesting: the contrast of cultures is especially well done
Philip Pullman
A beautifully interwoven novel about magic and loss and the incomprehensible threads that connect our lives. I just finished it, and loved it
Elizabeth Gilbert
author of EAT, PRAY, LOVEA Tale for the Time Being is a downright miraculous book that will captivate you from the very first page. Profoundly original, with authentic, touching characters and grand, encompassing themes, Ruth Ozeki proves that truly great stories - like this one - can both deepen our understanding of self and remind us of our shared humanity
Deborah Harkness
author of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
Ruth Ozeki
View profileRuth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the author of The Book of Form and Emptiness which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022, My Year of Meats, All Over Creation and A Tale for the Time Being, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize and translated into 28 languages. Ozeki has also written a short memoir, The Face: A Time Code. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities.
ruthozeki.com
Ruth Ozeki
View profileRuth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the author of The Book of Form and Emptiness which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022, My Year of Meats, All Over Creation and A Tale for the Time Being, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize and translated into 28 languages. Ozeki has also written a short memoir, The Face: A Time Code. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities.
ruthozeki.com
Ruth Ozeki
View profileRuth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the author of The Book of Form and Emptiness which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022, My Year of Meats, All Over Creation and A Tale for the Time Being, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize and translated into 28 languages. Ozeki has also written a short memoir, The Face: A Time Code. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities.
ruthozeki.com
