Season of the Cicada — Jane Scott

After a decade of living in the United States, ELISE ENGLE returns to Japan to intersect a parallel world from which she diverged years ago. Now a woman in her early forties, faced with the dissolution of her marriage, she seeks safe harbor in a Zen Buddhist temple, outside of bustling Tokyo. It is from this backdrop that she will begin to reflect on the journey to her mid-life. The story unfolds through reflections of Elise as a younger character, one who embraces adventure, love and longing. Zen Buddhist principles are interwoven with Elise's journey, to tell the story of a soul seeking peace and a sense of self again. “She touches the splintering timber and the smell of tar fills her nose. Her eyes follow the heavy doors to the place where they intersect the blue sky. A few abandoned snowflakes fall, brushing her cheeks. Elise squints at the light above and breathes deeply. She has arrived. In some ways her journey has ended and, although feeling relief, she knows the most difficult journey is yet to begin. A single tear slides down her right cheek and she tastes salt. She tastes him.” Entering the heavy wooden doors of the temple, her life begins to flash before her eyes in a series of slow motion frames. Within these walls she will face, again, the person she is and the choices she has made. The smell of the wind in her nose standing high on a mountain peak; the song of colliding bamboo high above her head; the dusting of snow over autumn leaves in the temple garden; the feeling of a loved one she lost so many years ago; her heart beating once again when she thought her soul had chosen death once more �" to experience each image, in essence, is to devour the pages of the Season of the Cicada. In this novel, Elise creates a second chance �" to relive the context of her youth and, at the same time, experience the fruits of her growing wisdom.