Yuki Chan in Bronte Country

 Yuki Chan in Bronte Country

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       March 15, 2016

 

Author  Mick Jackson

Distributor:      Allen & Unwin
ISBN:                 9780571254255
Publisher:         Faber
Release Date:   March 2016  

   Website:   http://www.allenandunwin.com

FaceBook:    

YouTube:   

Instagram:   

X Formally Twitter:    

What an intriguing title! What an unusual story.  Yuki is on a mission to make sense of her mother’s death. We all deal with grief in different ways and make many a journey to come to grips with the loss of a loved one; but there are many reasons why Yuki is stuck, and can’t move forward until she understands her mother’s reasoning.

The journey that Yuki takes follows her mother’s footsteps overseas, and from photos and postcards Yuki discovers the exact tours that her mother took and the exact B&B where she stayed.

 Hence we begin the story with Yuki in the Windermere district of England, on a tour of the Bronte sisters’ home and surrounds. As she is the youngest person on the bus by a long way, we gradually discover that it is not her passion for the writings of the Bronte sisters that has brought her here, but rather an effort to retrace her mother’s footsteps. Bit by bit, we begin to understand what drives Yuki, and slowly information is revealed which makes her search even sadder.

 An obsession with snow and snowflakes is discussed and Yuki discovers an English friend with whom she can communicate slowly and carefully. Denny shows Yuki some short cuts and introduces her to people who may have remembered her    mother’s visit ten years previously. A local psychic in an old folk’s home that the girls break into gives Yuki another tiny clue.

 Slowly, as more information is revealed, we see that Yuki has some enormous issues to confront. Her sister handles life by being gruff and dismissive, but Yuki’s father is able to see things more clearly and factually. He is the one who shows Yuki how unlike her mother she really is.

 This is a serious issue gently handled. Yuki’s journey is one we can all relate to, but hopefully will never have to undertake.

 

Fiction