THE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLER
Tender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching
story of love, courage and rivalry as three young people come to
understand what it means to truly be a friend.
In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious
piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks,
three students will experience some of the most joyous--and
painful--moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each
will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever.
Aya was a child prodigy who abruptly gave up performing after the death
of her mother, and is now trying for a comeback; Masaru, a childhood
friend of Aya who came to the piano through her insistence that he learn
to play, is now reunited with her after many years, and is equally
invested in both his and her success; Akashi, who is older and married,
works in a music store and is the "old man" of the competitors, hoping
for a final chance at success; and Jin, a sixteen-year-old prodigy, the
free spirited son of a beekeeper who travels constantly, and has no
formal training (and doesn't even own a piano) yet whose mesmerizing
insight into music has brought him to the attention of one of the
world's most celebrated pianists, the late Maestro Von Hoffman.
Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to
the brink. But at what cost?
Beloved in Japan, Riku Onda immerses us in the world of music--from
piano masterpieces to the buzz of bees and the rumble of thunder--which
crescendos to a surprising ending in this rich and vibrant novel.
