The Yomigaeri Tunnel

Gr 9 Up– An introspective journey through grief into hope. Recent high school graduate Monika goes to the Japanese Club graduation party and learns about the local legend of the Yomigaeri Tunnel: somewhere in town is a tunnel that leads nowhere, but if you get to the end, you can resurrect the dead. When she finds the tunnel, she also finds Shiori, a standoffish girl from another high school, who heard the same legend. Monika’s friend Shun passed from a drug overdose and Shiori’s mom died in a car accident; they decide to embark down the tunnel together. As she falls into her memories, Monika’s first memory is of Shun–but none of the others are, and she wonders if there is more to the tunnel’s test than the legend suggested. The novel is told nearly exclusively in flashbacks, making for a contemplative and heartrending narrative. In addition to their own, Monika and Shiori are thrown into each other’s memories and forced to reckon with hard truths. While the complex nature of grief is at the forefront of the story, Murashige’s plot also thoughtfully navigates generational trauma, addiction, and emotional abuse as the girls push forward. Monika must ask herself if she’s really there to resurrect Shun, or if she’s walked the tunnel hoping for something else. Main characters are of Japanese descent.