Wind, Dust, and Dharma

Some journeys change everything. Some transform you forever. Twenty-three days after her mother's funeral, Manhattan architect Emilia Chen arrives in Kyoto clutching a letter that came too late. Her mother's final wish: that Emilia learn something she couldn't teach her in life—how to let go. At the ancient temple of Ryoan-ji, Emilia meets Takeshi Yamamoto, a master carpenter who restores sacred buildings with the same patience he's used to rebuild his life after devastating loss. He speaks in riddles about impermanence and beauty. He works with wood the way some people pray. And he sees through every defense Emilia has spent years constructing. What begins as three weeks of grief and stone gardens becomes something neither of them expected: a connection that defies logic, distance, and every plan Emilia ever made for her carefully controlled life. But loving Takeshi means choosing between the career she's built in New York and a future in a country where she'll always be a foreigner. It means learning to live with uncertainty instead of blueprints. It means accepting that the most beautiful things—like cherry blossoms, like love—are the ones we can never keep. A sweeping romance about second chances, cross-cultural love, and discovering that home isn't a place—it's a choice you make every day. Perfect for readers who love The Light We Lost, The Nightingale, and stories of transformation, found family, and love that asks for everything.