#Blogtour Mongrol by Hanako Footman @hanakofootman @WeAreFootnote @bonnierbooks_uk @RandomTTours @annecater #Mongrel

The Blurb

Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.

Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.

Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo’s nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city’s sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .

Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.

My Review

Mongrel was one of those hauntingly beautiful novels that stays with you long after the final page has been read and the book closed. It was a story of women displaced, of grief, of years of trying to find their true selves , their place within their world.

Yuki, talented violinist in pursuit of a musical career arrives in London only to fall in love with her teacher, to marry, to give birth only to lose her identity. Footman made me wonder whether she suffered the ravishes of postnatal depression or the abandonment of a husband who just did his duty. Her turmoil and emotions were brilliantly evident within Footman’s narrative, the aching love for her child the disconnect with her homeland, the longing for heir own mother.

Mei, was just as confused, in love with her best friend Fran, a love never reciprocated yet she clung on throughout the novel in the for that one day when it would happen. Again Footman sent her search for belonging, an encompassing grief for a mother she never really knew, an incident that would set her own on a trajectory of discovery to her Japanese heritage and homeland.

Finally Haruka, defined by grief set on a path of self destruction. Footman threw her into the Tokyo club world of men who used and abused Haruka for sex, Haruka only to willing, a sense of self punishment, of looking for the love of a father she never knew.

I was wrapped within their hurt and emotion Footman’s narrative raw and unforgiving. At times it felt too much but in a good way, left me emotionally drained. I left the characters hopeful in the knowledge that maybe that had or would find their path, find happiness and a place in the world they resided.

A beautiful and stunning debut.

I would like to thank We Are Footnote for a copy of Mongrel to read and review and to Random Things Tour for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London.
Mongrel is her debut novel.