Kakigori Summer
Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami is a novel published by HarperCollins Publishers on June 10, 2025, featuring 336 pages in English. This story centers on three sisters—Rei, Kiki, and Ai—who reunite for a brief summer in their childhood home on the Japanese coast. Each sister leads a distinct life, with Rei in finance in London, Kiki as a single mother in Tokyo, and Ai as a music idol. The narrative explores their complex relationships as they navigate personal challenges and the lingering impact of their family’s past.
Throughout the summer, the sisters confront their shared history while caring for Kiki’s son and dealing with Ai’s scandal. The novel delves into themes of family life, sisterhood, and the unspoken burdens they carry, particularly regarding their mother’s death. As they reconnect, the story reveals the delicate balance between silence and communication among siblings, offering a poignant look at belonging and the ties that bind them. Kakigori Summer presents a thoughtful exploration of love, loss, and the narratives that shape their lives.
Official synopsis Publisher
A wry and tender novel from the author of Fault Lines about three very different sisters reunited in adulthood for one short summer, for readers of Hello Beautiful and Blue Sisters.
“Kakigori Summer is a novel about belonging… I loved retreating into its cocoon of sibling humor as the sisters briefly stepped back to discover their place in it.” — Florence Knapp, author of The Names
Rei, Kiki, and Ai are three sisters divided by distance and circumstance. Ambitious Rei works in finance in London; Kiki is the single mother of a young son, working in a retirement home in Tokyo; and Ai, the youngest, is a peripatetic Japanese music idol. Having lost both parents, one way or another, the sisters rely on each other as family, far-flung as they are.
When Ai is embroiled in a scandal, Rei and Kiki pause their own lives to rescue their baby sister. Over the course of a summer spent in their childhood home on the Japanese coast, the sisters will reunite with their sharp-edged grandmother, care for Kiki’s irrepressible son, and silently worry about Ai, all while carefully not talking about the circumstances of their mother’s death fifteen years before. But silence between sisters can only last for so long…
A transporting and redemptive novel, Kakigori Summer is a hopeful meditation on love and loss, sisterhood and family, and a profound exploration of the stories we tell ourselves about our past that enable us to move forward into the future.
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