A Burden of Flowers by Natsuki Ikezawa (Kodansha)

A Burden of Flowers is an English language version of the Japanese book  “Hana wo Hakobu Imouto”, translated by Alfred Birnbaum who has also translated many of Haruki Murakami’s novels into English. It literally translates to “The Sister Who Carries Flowers”. The book won the Mainichi Award for the year 2000, given by Mainichi Publishing, a subsidiary of the Mainichi Shimbun (newspaper). The story was inspired by true events that happened in the eighties. 

The two main characters are a brother and his younger sister, Tetsuro and Kaoru. Tetsuro “Tez” Nishijima is a successful artist and an avid traveler. He is also a recovering drug addict. He currently finds himself sitting in a prison cell in Bali, Indonesia.  Kaoru is five years younger than Tez. She is a Europhile and studied at the Sorbonne in France. Although she never graduated from the Sorbonne, she became fluent at speaking French and for the past five years, she had been living in various cities in Europe. Kaoru has moved back to Japan and her current job often requires her to work in Europe. 

So begins an incredible story of great courage and persistence of a young sister’s journey into the unknown world of international law and politics.With the help of a retired professor and two of his close and well-connected Indonesian friends, they take on the case to keep Kaoru’s brother from receiving the death sentence. 

The story is told through the eyes of Kaoru and Tez in alternating chapters. Kaoru’s story focuses on going through all the hurdles of red tape in Indonesia’s legal system. She is also witness to its corruption, having to deal with a police chief who is totally uncooperative and has already determined that Tez is guilty of heroin trafficking as Tez has already signed a confession admitting to his guilt.

Tetsuro’s story focuses on his reminisces about traveling through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam It is in Thailand where he meets a German woman who leads him into the world of heroin use He thinks about his addiction, his rehabilitation and his relapse into using heroin again. Still, he doesn’t understand why the purchase of two grams of heroin calls for the death penalty. It is with hindsight that Tez realizes he has been framed as he is being charged with possession of 200 grams of heroin with intent to sell. 

Unknown to Tez or Kaoru, good fortune was on their side. The siblings discover the news at a later time after the charge against Tez had been reduced without explanation. They were shown a magazine article which was translated them for them. They were informed that the police chief was being investigated by a detective in the Independent Investigations Division and had been working undercover to investigate misconduct in regional police departments. The detective had been shot and left for dead but survived and managed to get help. 

The actions of the two main characters are excellently interwoven to provide the reader with a peak into a young woman’s uphill battle combating a corrupt system and a man coming to terms with his own actions which led him to his current predicament. The more you learn about Tez and his fall from grace, the more you want Kaoru to succeed. The suspense of the outcome keeps you riveted to the story.  ~Ernie Hoyt