The Crane Wife

Waking one night, George Duncan has a surreal, dreamlike encounter with an enormous white crane that has landed in his back yard. Shot through the wing with an arrow, the bird is clearly in pain, and George does his best to tend its wounds before watching as it flies away. This moving and bewildering event proves to be a harbinger of change for George: the next morning, an enigmatic woman, Kumiko, arrives in his shop, and before long, the two have embarked on a love affair. A tentative creative experiment results in sudden and surprising success, and George finds himself embracing a new path as a celebrated artist. Struggling with her own challenges, George's daughter Amanda is initially resistant to the changes in her father's life, but soon she too is swept up in the sense of unexpected possibility heralded by the crane.

Taking its inspiration from an ancient Japanese folktale, which also inspired The Decemberists' song of the same name, Patrick Ness's much-anticipted second novel is a beautifully-written, bittersweet tribute to the extraordinary in the everyday. Witty, compassionate and beautifully-written, this tale of love and loneliness, sadness and hope is always unpredictable, infused with a powerful sense of wonder.