THE FOURTH TREASURE
a novel
by Todd Shimoda
illustrated by L.J.C. Shimoda
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

Illustrated with exquisite Japanese calligraphy and brush art, this suspenseful love story spans two very different countries, cultures, and generations and illuminates the characters' inner natures through intertwined narratives, engaging interludes, and fascinating details of the tradition-bound art of calligraphy as well as the cutting-edge science that explores the mysteries of the brain/mind.

Tina Suzuki is a first-year graduate student at the Berkeley Institute for Brain and Behavior Studies. Born and raised in San Francisco by her Japanese mother, who was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Tina knows nothing of her father or her family's past, due to her mother's refusal to talk about them. Also in Berkeley, Tina's boyfriend is studying Japanese calligraphy when his teacher suffers a stroke, losing the ability to understand and write language. When the teacher continues to create magnificent, though abstract, calligraphic art, Tina realizes that he is the ideal subject for researching how the brain creates emotion, consciousness, and language. In ways she couldn't have anticipated, her research leads to revelations about her own family.

Juxtaposed with Tina's story is another story that takes the reader far from Berkeley to Kyoto many years earlier. This tale of a Japanese calligraphy master who falls in love with a student brings to life the history and art of calligraphy and particularly, of the ancient and legendary inkstone known as the Fourth Treasure. When the student disappears, the calligraphy master hires a private investigator who ultimately finds her. The calligraphy master follows her, bringing the inkstone with him, but for reasons the novel reveals in multiple parallel plots that dip into the recent past as well the ancient past of Japan, she can have nothing more to do with him.

As the dual narratives unfold, they are enhanced with excerpts from characters' "notebooks" that offer a primer on Japanese calligraphy as well as concise, thoroughly accessible and interesting facts about neuroscience. More than just metaphors or literary devices, the "notebooks" propel the plots in subtle, surprising, and illuminating ways. From the controlled, yet poetic writing to the magnificent illustrations, THE FOURTH TREASURE is itself a treasure, a rich and rewarding reading experience, wrapped in a beautiful package.

Nan A. Talese/Doubleday hardcover
Fiction
368 pages
6 1/4 x 8
b&w calligraphic illustrations throughout
EAN 9780385503525
0-385-50352-0
$24.95/$37.95 in Canada
On sale April 16, 2002

AUTHOR & ARTIST BIO

Todd Shimoda is the author of 365 Views of Mt. Fuji. A third-generation Japanese American, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and currently teaches and researches artificial intelligence applications at Colorado State University. L J.C. Shimoda, his wife and the illustrator of this book and 365 Views of Mt. Fuji, is an artist who has studied Japanese art and calligraphy, interpreting these traditional media with her distinct vision. They currently live in Colorado, and have lived in California and Japan.