I felt completely lost when I’d finished this book. I wanted it to be twice, three times as long. I wanted it to never end. I wanted to go and meet the real Edward and I particularly wanted to eat some of his delicious cooking. This is not fiction but the true story of (as described on the cover) an unexpected friendship.
What a character Edward is. A nonagenarian who cooks like an angel – and such food, apple galettes, martinis (the real ones made with gin and served in a chilled glass ) apricot souffles, poached flounder.
When the author first starts to visit Edward -a nonegenarian – she thinks she is doing a favour for his daughter who is a friend of hers. It is in fact her own life which will change.
Vincent’s story is a revelation. In an age of individualism and me-ism, there are still people choosing to live differently. Edward is one of them.
At the start of the book, he has just lost his wife Paula, aged 95. It is a remarkable thing to witness the strength of their love for each other, even though it is necessarily told at second hand.
In some ways Edward is part of another age, but he is the best part of another age, the part that still has time for courtesy and consideration. The part that believes our lives have meaning – not because of the position we hold in this or that corporation – but because of how we have regarded those we’ve befriended and those we have loved.
“The secret said Edward is to treat guests as family and family as guests. “
This book is a testament to a friendship that changed two lives and the world is a better place for it.
Dinner with Edward, Isabel Vincent. Pushkin Press. 2016
15/20 Books of Summer
***
Had it not been for WIT month I wouldn’t have known that there was an English translation available of Eiko Kadono’s book Kiki’s Delivery Service. For fans of Studio Ghibli or just for those who believe a big of magic helps the world go round, this delightful story about a young witch trying to make her way in the world is warm hearted reading for anyone dreading the onslaught of cold autumn winds and rain which if you live in the northern hemisphere you may currently be facing.
I haven’t reviewed any children’s literature before. This I must do more of.
Kiki is a witch and coming of age for a witch happens quite young. Batmitzvah style, coming of age is 13 for Kiki. But rather than just have a party, she is expected to leave home and make her own way in a strange town which she must find for herself, where her skills as a witch can do some good for the community.
Kiki’s broom is not strictly hers but her mother’s old one. She has a talking cat – as all good witches must – and together they fly off to find somewhere new, strange and challenging.
They land in a town called Koriko and scarcely has the broom touched down in this new and strange town by the sea than Kiki is asked to deliver a baby’s lost pacifier to an unpacified baby, which she does, and thus she achieves her first challenge and thus is born Kiki’s Delivery Service.
This book, which inspired the great film maker Miyazaki, is illustrated in black and white by Joe Todd-Stanton. Kiki ‘s Delivery Service is a complete delight from beginning to end.
Kiki’s Delivery Service. Eiko Kadano, (Penguin Random House 2020)
5/4 Women in Translation Month
16/20 Books of Summer
