SWEET BEAN PASTE BY DURIAN SUKEGAWA

OMG. 

This is a new all-time favorite!

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa is about Sentaro, an ex-convict who is paying off debt he owes by working at a small dorayaki shop. One day an elderly woman named Tokue comes in and notices the "now hiring" sign, and she asks Sentaro if she could work there. Sentaro notices that her fingers are all crooked, too, and he wonders if it's a good idea to hire her. After Tokue has him her try her own sweet bean paste recipe for the dorayaki, Sentaro loves it and hires her. More and more people start to drop by the shop and business is booming. One customer who visits frequently is a teenager named Wakana, who doesn't have a good relationship with her parents but eventually becomes friends with Sentaro and Tokue. Sentaro is happy that the shop is doing well thanks to Tokue, but the owner (his boss) finds out about Tokue and her crooked fingers, and she tells Sentaro she found out that Tokue came from a sanatorium that housed people with Hansen's disease (leprosy), and Tokue herself had Hansen's disease. Even though there is a cure and many victims of the disease like Tokue have been cured, the owner still thinks she might pass on the disease to the customers and wants her fired. Sentaro unfortunately against his will fires Tokue. But with Tokue gone, the shop starts to dwindle, and the owner thinks about replacing the main shop item with something else. She also gets her nephew to take Tokue's place. Sentaro and Wakana still go to visit Tokue in the sanatorium where she lives, and Wakana gives her a pet bird that she wasn't allowed to keep in her apartment. They then learn more about Tokue, her friends and family, life at the sanatorium and living with Hansen's disease, and so much more about life and how life is worth living for all humans. You do not need to contribute to the economy in order to be seen as useful. Yay for anti-ableism!

This was such a beautiful and bittersweet book. I literally cannot stop thinking about it long after I read it. Everything I love in storytelling is present in this book. I guarantee you will smile and cry at this book a lot. 

It's a pure 5 star book. Go read it now!

What's the last book you read that resonated so deeply with you?