“[Picking Bones from Ash], so firmly anchored in a sensuous reality,
veers into a dream world. A reader has the sense that even the author was
driven by her most powerful character: the original mother, raising her
daughter alone, shunned by villagers, forced to make decisions that haunt her
descendants.”
THE GORGEOUS DEBUT NOVEL FROM MARIE MUTSUKI MOCKETT WHO "SUCCEEDS WHERE MANY OTHERS FAIL: MAKING THE READER CARE" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY)
“Solid and graceful. . . . Mockett combines the best elements of a
mystery story, ghost story, magical realism and the complex difficulties in
deciding what is ‘best’ for our elders and offspring.”
—STAR
TRIBUNE
“Mockett presents a well-written and notable story of three
generations of strong-willed women, each in search of something just out of
their grasp; the sacrifices they make for their daughters; and the unseen
repercussions of choices made long ago.”
—BOOKLIST
“A book of intelligence and heart. As
Mockett reveals, the ghosts of our mothers are always within us."
—AMY TAN
No one knows who fathered eleven-year-old Satomi,
and the women of her 1950s Japanese mountain town find her mother’s restless
sensuality a threat. Satomi’s success in piano competitions has always won
respect, saving her and her mother from complete ostracism. But when her mother’s growing ambition
tests this delicate social balance, Satomi’s gift is not enough to protect
them. Eventually, Satomi is pushed to make a drastic decision in order to begin
her life anew. Years later, Satomi’s choices echo in the life of her American
daughter, Rumi, a gifted authenticator of Asian antiques. Rumi has always
believed her mother to be dead, but when Rumi begins to see a ghost, she
wonders: Is this the spirit of her mother? If so, what happened to Satomi?
Picking
Bones from Ash explores the struggles women face in accepting their talents, and asks
what happens when mothers and daughters dare to question the debt owed each
other. Fusing imagination and suspense, Marie Mutsuki Mockett builds a lavish
world in which characters journey from Buddhist temples to the black market of
international antiques in California, as they struggle to understand each other
across cultures and generations.
"Deeply preoccupied with girls, talent, and power."
—MAUD NEWTON
“I don’t know when I last read
a novel with two such captivating heroines as Marie Mutsuki Mockett conjures up
in her intricate and absorbing novel Picking
Bones From Ash. Like Satomi and Rumi, Mockett is ‘fiercely, inarguably, and
masterfully talented.’ An immensely satisfying debut.”
