Reading beyond recipe books

Moriguchi sensei was a teacher in a middle school. She had just suffered a loss; her young daughter died in the school pool while waiting for her. Moriguchi knew that the 2 boys in her class was responsible for her death. On the last day at school before her retirement, she gave a parting story to her class and insinuated that she knew who the culprits are. To avenge her daughter’s death, she injected HIV+ tainted milk into the free milk packs which the boys drank. After her departure, the class meted out their own form of revenge on the teacher's behalf. One of the boys spiraled into fear and isolated himself, convinced that he had contracted Aids and would die soon. A new zealous teacher took over Moriguchi and unaware of what happened earlier and manipulated by Moriguchi, triggered a series of events that caused the boy’s mother to commit suicide. The other culprit figured out that he had remained HIV – and continued to live his life. He continued to ...

This novel is a translated work from Kaneo Minato, which is said to be written in between housework. The story spans more than a decade, starting from the time a 10 year old city girl from Tokyo came to live in a rural countryside because of her father’s transfer. There, Emily befriends 4 girls of the same age as her. Emily was a victim of rape and murder, under the eyes of her 4 young friends, by a man who who had more motive to kill than covering up his lust. Emily’s mother, Asaki,   threatened the young witnesses with revenge and asked that they do penance because none was able to identify the perpetrator. The 4 girls never completely emerged from their trauma. Sae married a boy who had eyes on her since the time of the murder and was in constant contact with Emily’s bereaved mother. Sadly Sae ended up killing the new husband when he turned violent in their new home overseas. Maki, the girl who felt neglected all her life, was never offe...