ARC Review: “Beautiful Distance” by Nao-Cola Yamazaki

“Beautiful Distance” by Nao-Cola Yamazaki

Publishing Date: September 29, 2026

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary

Page Length: 170 pages (electronic review edition)

Synopsis:

A man sits in a cafe, sipping a green juice and watching the world go by. A white butterfly flutters through the air; a calico cat jumps onto a wall; cherry blossom petals fall, softly, to the ground. Life, momentarily, stands still. Our unnamed narrator is preparing to visit his terminally ill wife in hospital.

A prize-winning bestseller in Japan, Beautiful Distance is a profoundly affecting and intimate story that looks with honesty and tenderness at the journey towards the end of a life. It explores what family means, how we think about death, and the power of quiet acts of love.

Review:

“Movement’s a funny thing. when you concentrate on how something moves, its existence slides out of focus.”

Beautiful Distance is a simple yet very emotional read. Though short the novel is a powerful story about love and family as the main character (we aren’t given his name) takes care of his ill wife of fifteen years. The novel because its wrriten in first person, puts the reader in the narrator’s shoes which allows us to be fully immersed in their feelings.

Through glimpses of flashbacks during the hospital visits readers see the couples journey of growth from their first meeting to now. Without saying much aloud we can feel how deeply they care for each other and how their quiet acts of sitting beside each other in silence say ‘”I love you” without it having to be spoken aloud. The novel also navigates grieving someone you can no longer be with and how to reckon with the multitude of emotions within yourself.

This novel felt incredibly heartfelt and it takes heavy issues of death, grief, and family with such care. I was crying by the end of the book too! It also is a testament to living life fully and not having regrets as the wife reminisces on not having more time, but still grateful for all the experiences and people she has met in her life. I also appreciated how the narrator of the story considers how she would feel or what she would want before making any decisions on her behalf.

Though heartbreaking, this novel reminds us how temporary everything is and does a great job of tackling difficult themes like illness and death.

Final Verdict:

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Zando Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.