Mongrel by Hanako Footman

Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage, but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.

Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.

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Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo’s nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city’s sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .

Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.

My Review

Mongrel is poetic in its literary style, lyrical and flowing. It’s so beautifully and sensitively written – it’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel.

I ‘enjoyed’ (totally the wrong word) Haruko’s story the most. I found her easier to empathise with. Yuki’s is so painful, at times I had to stop reading. And Mei is too far out of my comfort zone, though later on in the book it was easier.

The book starts with Yuki and Mei, and for a while we move back and forth between the two. They are not yet connected. Yuki has left Japan at age eighteen, to travel to England where she will ‘pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist’. Her talent is amazing and soon attracts the attention of her much older tutor. No-one seems to care though, which I found quite strange. He probably should have been sacked.

Mei lost her mum who died when she was six and she lives with her father in Surrey. She has a beautiful voice and wants to be a singer. However, we hear more about her relationship with her best friend Fran than her potential career, though we never really discover whether it’s reciprocated in the way she would like. There’s a lot of drinking, drug taking, partying and holidays with Fran’s family. As I said, I was totally out of my comfort zone.

It’s quite some time before we ‘meet’ Hukara. She too lost her mum when she was sixteen, and lives with her Baba and Jiji (grandparents) in a somewhat ramshackle farm where Jiji tends the rice fields. Until she died, Hakura’s mum worked all hours and was rarely at home. Then one day, Hakura has a terrible fight with Jiji and runs away to Tokyo where she works in the sex industry. She tries to justify her choices, but we can see it makes her sad.

During the second half of the book the strands begin to come together and we start to see how everyone is connected. There are tiny hints throughout the book, but it is complicated. Better to just go with the flow. There is so much emotion, sadness, secrets and regret, and the whole story becomes more and more gripping. But it’s Yuki that pains me the most. She is a character that will live with me for a long time.

I must also say at this point that we learn a lot about Japan, the culture, the food, the language and the people. It’s a fascinating insight as well as a riveting storyline.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London. Mongrel is her debut novel.