This is a super emotional book, which reminded me a little of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. The premise of both is rather similar, and the emotions felt throughout both are comparable.

However, it took me a while to get into this book and I found the start really slow.

How did this book end up in my hands? I read this novel twice. Once in Italian (original title: Quel che affidiamo al vento) and once in its English translation. The English version of the book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion and I am super grateful for the opportunity.

Was it a page-turner? I wanted to finish the book in one breath and I wanted it to last forever, all the same time. To be honest, I couldn’t have finished it in one sitting and kept my heart more or less intact. It’s a novel that requires time and time it should be granted.

Did the book meet my expectations? I had an inkling that I would like it. I loved it. It broke my heart but I forgave it. Twice!

Three words to describe it. Poetic. Inspiring. Moving.

Do I like the cover? I probably prefer the Italian cover as it’s more subtle but I like them both. Simple and effective.

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, but I’ve added all of her books to my wish list. Plus, I’ve become addicted to her blog, Giappone Mon Amour (in Italian), and her Instagram account (also in Italian).

This was an interesting and quite original book, not unsimilar to the Japanese cafe books where customers can sit in a special chair to be taken back to the past although you cannot change any events that happened. Yui lost her mother and little daughter in a monumental tsunami in Japan inMarch 2011. A catastrophe that claimed huge amounts of casualties. During one of her radio talk shows she hears about a phone box (not in public use) where people go to speak to the dead. I thought this was a wonderful idea but sadly the said phone box ends up taking second place to all the sad stories of the people who come to use it. This could easily have been a short story rather than a full length book. It's written more as a journal than novel although I did like the inclusion of passages from the bible. My attention did waver from about a third of the way through, I desperately wanted to know more about the phone box but new characters kept on appearing with their shattered lives following the deaths of their loved ones. I was very disappointed that Yui, despite making the journey every month for a very long time, only finally entered the phone box at the end of the book, and that is where it ends., we never really find out any more about her experience of speaking to her dead mother and daughter, her conversation, like those of others, flowing away like the wind. i particularly like Shio's story about his lost son.

This is a strange book in that it has some beautifully constructed narratives about grief and loss, about rebuilding lives and love. Yet is also has some utter trivialities in it, almost every other chapter is full of nonsensical banalities - a playlist for a radio program; statistics; phrases that someone would say; dimensions of a frame and the address of a bookshop where the MC buys a book. These all felt like tactics to extend the book which might have been a 150 page narrative without those chapters and without the countless and for me seemingly pointless depictions of birds flying.

I feel that the 150 pages meaningful narrative would have been a better book.

What a delightful read! It's a beautiful story about loss and hope.

Two strangers meet on their way looking for the "Wind phone". A phone box in a beautiful garden where you can go and speak to the loved ones you have lost.
It's such a wonderful idea!

"Then it struck Yui that the function of the telephone, rather than channel and guide voices into a single ear, was to broadcast them into the wind"

For years Yui and Takeshi would return and in the end, the story turns into a tender love story. A story where they both found love and happiness.

I loved all the beautiful little messages throughout the book. Things like :
"Distance makes us love better and with greater respect"
"We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. And we need twelve hugs a day for growth."

A beautifully written book that I can highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier books UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This was a different kind of book for me and I found I couldn’t race through it as I normally do. Instead I read this slowly and really took it all in. It’s very beautiful but at the same time a sad story. It deals with grief in a completely different way to anything I’ve read before.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

As one could imagine about a book based on a natural disaster has everything to be sad and hard do read. That's exactly what happens here but also it shows the way to healing, to survive even though your loved ones are not here anymore. It's a book about hope and about the journey to happiness. I adore this books. The chapters are short and give us a feeling of everything that's going on. I didn't feel any kind of rush during the read, everything happened the way it was supposed to. Definitely going to read more books by this author.

I loved the premise for this book but I struggled to get with the style of writing and just could not immerse myself in the plot in the way I would hope to.

I usually love books set in Japan, and whilst this one did remind me in some ways of my time spent in Japan I didn't feel the presence like I have in other books.

The story is based on a real life location of the "wind phone" although they ask that tourists do not visit. It is certainly a sad story of those lost in the Tsunami in Japan in 2011, and whilst this is fiction it is obviously a very true depiction of what many suffered.

The idea of being able to talk to those that have passed through a phone is a comforting thought and if it brings solace to those that seek it then it can only be a good thing. The book focuses mainly on two characters of Yui and Takeshi and their visits to the phone box. Strangers when they first meet the phone box unites them both through grief and overcoming it too.

Grief has affected Yui so much so that although she is a radio presenter when she isn't on air she has a an almost reclusive personality. At times I had concerns she would never find herself again and miss chances as she was so caught up in her grief. The portrayal of her actions towards the end of the book were so vivid I feared for her.

A gentle read, although it covers a harrowing experience but with hope. There is a wonderfully comprehensive list of all the Japanese terms and the translation at the end of the book.

This book, by an Italian author who has lived in Japan for many years, tells the story of how people deal with grief. In particular, we follow Yui, whose mother and young daughter were killed in the 2011 tsunami, and Takeshi, a widower whose own child has been mute since her mother's death from cancer. They meet at Bell Gardia - a real therapeutic garden area established after the events of 2011 - drawn by hearing of a phone which is used by many people to speak to the dead. Takeshi speaks to his wife, mostly about his fears for their daughter, but Yui finds that she cannot face using the phone. She does, however, spend time speaking to the elderly man who is the custodian of the phone box, to those who call in to her radio show and to Takeshi and the two begin to both heal and to grow closer to each other. The story alternates between this growing relationship and interludes - poems, lists, memories and descriptions of those who are now dead - which add to the poignancy of the novel.


This is a gentle read - sad, but never bleak, and offering the hope of better times ahead. Something we could all do with in the current situation, perhaps?

Wow!!! All I can say is that I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone. even if you have not lost someone. This book offers a sweet and poignant story, as well as some meaningful messages and a hopeful outlook on life.

After losing her mum and daughter in the tsunami of 2011, Yui wonders how she will continue to live without them. Only after listening to a guest on her radio show, does she hear about the disused telephone box at the end of a garden, where mourners trek for miles to speak to their lost loved ones. Yoi decides to visit the telephone box for herself and this is where she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose young daughter hasn't spoked since her passing. Their chance meeting opens up a new path for both of them to follow.

This book is both tragic and beautiful at the same time. All the characters burrow into your heart and you want to hug them and be there for them in their time of grief. The story shows the depth that grief can take. Also, how you can grieve the living as well as the dead. It also shows how loneliness can escalate grief. Talking to someone in a similar situation can help ease the pain. Grief has no time limit. It isn't something you can just get over or put to the back of your mind. The characters in the book, don't get over their grief, they learn to live with it.

I loved the idea of using the phone box to talk to their lost loved ones. It gave the book a magical feel, as though the phone box was a gateway between the living and the dead. When someone dies, you wonder if you ever told them how much you loved them enough. You want to share the tiny details of your life that they have missed and the phone box really helps the visitors in their grieving process. What I found fascinating about this was that the phone box actually exists and if you look it up on the internet, you will read some wonderful articles on it.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World only confirmed my new found love of Japanese translations. If you loved Before The Coffee Gets Cold, you will love this one too. Both books have a gentleness to their styles. The audio version of this book was utterly mesmerising. The voice has such a calmness to it, you leave the book feeling extremely calm and relaxed.

As many of you may know, August is Women in Translation month, so this is a perfect book to start with.

This novel was beautiful and haunting. It was a particularly heavy read even though it is only short but the content was heartbreaking.
Within the narrative, Laura Imai Messina deals with grief and human reactions to grief, how long it lasts and how humans adapt themselves to, not forget their grief, but become accustomed to living with it.
While I wont say I enjoyed the novel because of it's content it definitely gave me food for thought and I admired the authors graceful clasp on the details within her writing and the story as it is beautiful and well handled.

This book was beautifully written but I found it slow and a little hard to understand what was going on. I think it is definitely a beautiful message about life and grief but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

This novel is set in Japan and based around the tragedy of loss.
The cover depicts a fun light hearted read when in fact its a beautiful but at times sad and emotional read.
Join Yui who lost her mother and daughter in the tsunami of 2011 who travels to the famous phone box to help overcome her grief.
It was a change for me from the historical fiction that is my usual read.

I have been desperate to read this since the first time I saw it, I loved the concept and the front cover is gorgeous.
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However for one reason or another the book was not for me..... and I’m gutted!
I really wanted to love it but I just couldn’t.
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I enjoyed the characters, I loved the fact they found each other and helped each other overcome their grief but something was just missing and I can’t pinpoint what.
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This may be a very unpopular opinion as I know the lovely ladies I was listening with loved it so please do check out their reviews too but I have always said I will give an honest review.

In a garden on a clifftop in Japan stands a phone box. People come from all over & use the phone box to talk to those who have died. Yui lost her mother & daughter in the tsunami of 2011. She goes to the garden but never steps inside. She meets Takeshi who has lost his wife & is trying to bring up his three year old daughter. They make the journey together from Tokyo & over the months draw closer. We also read of others who visit the phone box & their stories.

This is an unusual story & it took me a while to get into it as the pace is quite slow, but in the end I fell under its spell. It is a charming story. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This book was very enjoyable. One thing that attracted me to it, was the setting which was in Japan. The story's central 'character' was a phone box. Immediately I thought this book would be different, something new, something fresh and I was not disappointed. Although set in Japan there was not a lot emphasis about that and although I was looking forward to the setting and perhaps learning more about the Japanese way of life, it didn't matter. Somehow the author managed to get the right emphasis where it was needed. The story revolves around Yui who had lost her family in a Tsunami and yet life had carried on for her. I know this was a sad story but somehow it retained positivity and it was not difficult to read.
The phone was not connected and the conversations were not detailed but the contents were very sensitively dealt with.
I shall remember this book for many different reasons. I would be able to easily recount it, unlike many books I read. Thank you Laura Imai Messina

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is a beautiful narrative exploring love, loss and lost words.
Yui lost both her mother and her daughter in the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan. She hears about an old man in the north of the country that has a phone box in his garden where people go to speak to their loved ones. On the journey to find this phone, Yui meets Takeshi who lost his wife to cancer and his daughter stopped speaking.
These two form a friendship that blossoms into a relationship. Yui's presence helps Hana, Takeshi's daughter regain her speech again and together they all start to heal from their experiences of grief.
While this book was beautiful and touching, I didn't personally connect to it. None of the characters were gripping to me, and I wasn't invested in their lives. The plot was very slow, so while the writing itself was beautiful and lovely to read; not much happened page to page.
For these reasons I'm giving the book 3*
Thanks to netGalley for giving me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often I need a break from my usual genre of dark, psychological thrillers or murder/crime mysteries and this book was the perfect antidote. The story is quite basic but the characters creep into your mind and you find yourself investing in them like old friends. This is essentially a book about loss, grief in its many forms and hope. I really liked the explanations which broke up the chapters, particularly the cultural references and I also appreciated the dictionary of Japanese/English - however this would have been more useful at the beginning of the book so I could use it as a reference throughout.
The writing is gentle and some sentences and thoughts are so exquisitely beautiful that I had to stop reading and just ponder. A thoroughly well deserved five stars.