It is joyous and delightful, an inspiration to read. I received a review copy of “A Single Rose” from Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson (who translated it from the French) and Europa Editions. Interspersed between chapters are stories, folk tales, which preview the events to come and reflect the rich Japanese culture. Every page is a journey filled with appreciation and peace. “A Single Rose” is a picture painted with words.

They find love where they were not looking for it. They both have suffered greatly, but now a new life is beginning. They find an understanding of relationships and a way to accept all that has been lost. Their very souls absorb the beauty of nature. Paul and Rose wander by a moss-covered bridge spanning a narrow arm of a pond, and visit Zen gardens with beds of fine gray sand where parallel lines have been drawn with a rake. This lushly written novella length story profiles the reexamination of Rose’s distant and estranged relationship with her father, who has recently passed away. She sees the summer magnolias that spill from a dark vase and catch the light in successive cascades, and observes the shadows that flicker like gleaming water pouring onto the flowers. A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson (Translation) is a 2021 Europa Editions publication. Rose is a botanist and acutely aware of every leaf, flower, and plant around her. Together they spend the days until the reading of the will exploring grief, abandonment, and nature. Paul, her father’s dedicated assistant, is waiting to greet her. This journey changes her life in ways she could never have anticipated. She must take her first trip to Kyo¯to Japan to settle his estate and to learn about the father that she never knew. Rose received news that Haru, her father, had died.

“A Single Rose” is a poetic journey taken over just a few days by two strangers brought together by a death.