The Village Beyond the Mist, by Sachiko Kashiwaba

The Village Beyond the Mist, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, is I think the most purely magical book I've read so far this year.  It is unapologetically exuberant in its lovely fantastical-ness.  It's also the inspiration for the Studio Ghibli movie, Spirited Away, although the story is quite different. First published in Japan in 1975, it's now been translated for English readers (May 27, 2025 from Restless Books), and I have now read it twice in three months, and I bet if I had been given it in 1975, when I was 8, my copy would now be in tatters....

Instead of going to her grandmother's for the summer as usual, Lena is being sent instead to a remote village she's never heard of.  When her train reaches the end of the line, she finds no one to meet her, and no one to help her get up the mountain to where it might (or might not) be.... Perturbed but undaunted, she sets off, and even when a strange mist envelopes her, she keeps going.

On the other side of the mist is a very small and very strange village.  In the middle of a forest is a cobbled street, with six buildings. One is a guest house, where a room is waiting for Lena. It's a lovely room, but there's a price-the rather fierce woman who runs it demands that Lena work for her room and board.  And so the book spools through Lena's time helping out at five magical shops in the village, each of which comes with its own challenges and wonders, and quirky characters.  

There is no other plot, and so it is bit episodic (readers looking for forward momentum toward plot points will not care for it as much as those looking for a dreamlike escape from reality with lovely pictures in their minds eye.  This would be me--I liked it more the second time, as the first time I had no guarantee that the magical peace of the village was safe from peace-destroying disaster).  But the episodic aspect of the story would, I think, make it a wonderful read aloud, and Lena is such a clearly drawn character, learning and appreciating and helping in each place she works, that it is a coherent story, progressing smoothly from beginning to end.

In short, it is great, warm-hearted fun for the right reader! (which would be me, and not just child-me-- I'm hanging on to the ARC I got from the publisher, in case I need a nice magical break from grown-up real world problems....)