The Secret of the Blue Glass

A classic story about the adventures of a magical miniature family and their human guardians in wartime Japan

“Has a sensibility and a poetry of its own” — The Independent

“I love this book. How important it is, in these times, that our children read the stories from other peoples, other cultures, other times” – The Guardian

In a dusty library, in the quietest corner of a house in a Tokyo suburb, live the Little People: Fern and Balbo, Robin and Iris. Just a few inches high, sleeping in cigarette boxes and crafting shoes from old book jackets, they need only one thing from their Humans—a nightly glass of milk, served in a sparkling Blue Glass goblet, by a trusted young member of the Human family.

But when World War II comes to Japan, bringing a dangerous new kind of patriotism, both Humans and their beloved Little People face a world they could never before have imagined.

9-year-old Yuri Moriyama has just taken on the mantle of milk-deliverer, following in the footsteps of her brothers, parents and aunt before her. But keeping the Little People alive and well will prove more complicated than she thought, in spite of all her loyal care, when the war causes a rift between her father and brother—not to mention making food scarce. Meanwhile siblings Iris and Robin want to explore the world beyond their tiny house on the bookshelf, but can their parents tolerate the risk?

It will take great love, bravery, and a rather special pigeon, to bring their unique families back together once more...

Born in Tokyo in 1924, Tomiko Inui joined a publishing house in 1950, where she began working as an editor, as well as writing books for children. She published many books over her long career, winning prizes along the way including the Mainishi Publishing Culture Award and the Akaitori Award for Children's Literature. She was also runner-up in 1964 for the Hans Christian Andersen prize. The Secret of the Blue Glass is the first of her books to be translated into English. She died in 2002.

Ginny Tapley Takemori lives in rural Japan and has translated fiction by more than a dozen Japanese authors of works for all ages.