A Single Rose

Reviews

“[A Single Rose] is interspersed with aphoristic Japanese tales from various periods, as melancholy is gradually transmuted into joy.”—The New Yorker

“Barbery brings her usual lush descriptions to this slim novel, weaving traditional Japanese stories through the narrative. [A] luminous meditation on grief.”—Booklist

“With elegant and careful prose, [Barbery] offers descriptions of Kyoto and Japanese culture that transcend the genre of a travelogue. This novel will appeal to readers who long for happy endings and escape.”—Library Journal

“This novel offers the pleasures of a poetic travelogue and an homage to a place and culture.
A Single Rose is a modern fairy tale... an evocative, transplanted retelling of the tale of a sleeping beauty.”—New York Journal of Books

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

“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

“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 moving and successful novel. Richly perfumed, delicate, light, and inspired.”—L’OBS

“In this story Rose explores an inner self that illuminates her darkness and leads her to overcome her sadness.”—L’orient litteraire

“At once a journey through a secret landscape and a poetic transposition of the enigma of love.”—Actualitte