Blog tour: Mongrel

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Welcome to the blog tour for Mongrel by Hanako Footman!

More about the book…

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.

More about the author…

Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London.

Mongrel is her debut novel.

My impressions…

My, oh my, what a treasure of a novel! I love when different storylines come seamlessly together to create one seemingly unavoidable whole – and the author has achieved it with perfection here. I was so engrossed in the individual stories of the three protagonists – Mei, Yuki and Haruka – that I didn’t even think to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It probably took me a lot longer to figure out the way they were connected than it should have… but it was so worth it.

I can’t reveal too much without giving something away. What I can say, however, is that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Mei who, half English and half Japanese, yearned to find her own identity. Yuki was interesting because I could identify with some of the struggles of someone who leaves everything they know behind to make a life in a different country. And Haruka… by far the most fascinating and elusive character for me as she was somehow familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

And Japan… the descriptions of Tokyo and the countryside made me want to hop on a plane back to this most intriguing country. Everything that I associate with Japan – the food, the architecture, the language – almost felt like a whole extra character. I loved it!

Three words to describe it. Poignant. Evocative. Hopeful.

Do I like the cover? Yes, it is a perfect fit for this novel.

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, this is a debut novel.

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