How to Hold Someone in Your Heart

Tsujimura’s touching sequel to Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon continues the chronicles of “go-between” Ayumi, a young man who facilitates reunions between the living and the dead. Ayumi helps TV actor Yuzuru Kamiya contact his late father, whose heavy drinking and abuse of his mother caused her to leave the family when Yuzuru was a boy. Their meeting is tenderly portrayed, as the father cries in regret and the pair fill each other in on their lost time. Elsewhere, Ayumi helps a woman named Misato who wants to see her child, Mei, who drowned when she was six. Before Mei died, she hoped to have a sister, and when Misato and Mei meet, Mei is excited to see that Misato is pregnant. Misato doesn’t yet know whether she’ll have a girl or a boy, but she’s pleased Mei can share in the family’s happiness. Ayumi also assists 85-year-old Hachiya, who’s failed for decades to connect with Ayako, a friend who died when they were teens. Ayako learns from Ayumi about Hachiya’s advanced age, and she finally agrees to meet Hachiya. Tsujimura wrings emotions from each episode, the significance of which is best summed up by Hachiya, who remarks, “It’s a gift to live in the world at the same time as the person you have in your heart.” Readers of healing fiction will find much to love. (Mar.)