**In this "exquisite personal blend of philosophy and engagement, inner
quiet and worldly life" (Los Angeles Times), an acclaimed author
returns to his longtime home in Japan after his father-in-law's sudden
death and picks up the steadying patterns of his everyday rites,
reminding us to take nothing for granted.
**
In a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honoring the dead,
Pico Iyer comes to reflect on changelessness in ways that anyone can
relate to: parents age, children scatter, and Iyer and his wife turn to
whatever can sustain them as everything falls away. As the maple leaves
begin to turn and the heat begins to soften, Iyer shows us a Japan we
have seldom seen before, where the transparent and the mysterious are
held in a delicate balance.
