FIRE FLOWERS is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon etc. for delivery across the world in February 2015
Europa Editions to publish FIRE FLOWERS IN UK & US, February 2015
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/europa-editions-uk-signs-first-british-author
Europa Editions UK signs first British author
Published June 25, 2014. By Caroline Carpenter
Europa Editions UK has acquired its first title by a British writer, a historical fiction novel set in Japan from debut author Ben Byrne.
Director Daniela Petracco signed World English rights in the novel, titled Fire Flowers, from Carrie Plitt at Conville & Walsh.
Petracco said: “Fire Flowers is the best kind of historical fiction, the kind that completely transports you to a different place and time without revealing the depth of research behind it. It’s also beautifully written, and I couldn’t be happier that it has found a home at Europa”.
The novel has been described as “a vivid tale of loss, love, and the search for truth” set in post-World War Two Tokyo.
Byrne was born in London but later lived in San Francisco for several years. His work as an international market researcher and ethnographic film-maker took him to Japan, where he spent time exploring its history and culture.
Fire Flowers will be published simultaneously in UK and US in February 2015, ahead of the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
'FIREFLIES' to be published by House of Anansi Press, October, 2013
A vivid and powerful novel set in post-WWII Japan, Fireflies chronicles the lives of four interweaving characters navigating the burned-out streets of Tokyo during the beginning of the American occupation.
“The war is over, I told myself, dumbly. It’s all over. And we are alive.”
August, 1945. Japan has been defeated. The country lies in ruins.
Satsuko Takara and her teenage brother, Hiroshi, have lost their parents, and each other, during the firestorm that devastated Tokyo five months before. Hal Lynch, a haunted US reconnaissance photographer, has now turned photojournalist in Japan, where he stumbles across a shocking story, concealed in the aftermath of war, which he is determined to bring to light.
And Osamu Maruki, a dissolute writer, once Satsuko’s beloved, has finally returned from the South Pacific, a broken and changed man.
As these character's stories spin out and converge, the war-torn streets of Tokyo come alive in this dazzlingly observed novel. Cinematic, brutal, yet beautiful, Fireflies powerfully portrays the shock, the struggles and the choices that arise from the destruction of war.Publication date: October 2013
FICTION/Literary * 978-1-77089-391-7 * 336 pages * $19.95 Trade paperback
Uncorrected proofs; not for sale. Substantial changes may be made before the book is printed. If material is to be quoted in a review, please check against the final published book or contact House of Anansi for verification.
For further information or media inquiries, please contact Laura Meyer at 416-363-4343 x 229, or lmeyer@anansi.ca. To place an order in Canada, please contact HarperCollins Canada at 1-800-387-0117.