Afterword
I started writing Soup Forest after seeing news of war every single day.
The COVID pandemic had already left me exhausted from not being able to see others, and then war started. It made me feel like I was going to be crushed by dark emotions and with nowhere to express them.
“It’s exactly times like this when I want to read something that soothes the soul,” I thought.
“I want a story about a kind person, sharing kind emotions with someone, going around to all sorts of people in various settings, like spreading a wave of kindness and compassion,” I mused.
“I’ll write a story about a good person living a simple life, a woman who can hear the hearts of animals and humans. I want to show the small, treasured moments in her normal life,” I pondered.
And it was from that desire that Soup Forest was born.
The protagonist, Olivia, grows as she’s soothed by the straightforward hearts of animals, while struggling with the complex hearts of humans, living her life at a distance from other people. She only opens her heart to animals and the grandparents who raised her.
Olivia is scared of people, but she definitely doesn’t hate them, and she doesn’t attack them, because she can see the true reasons why others hurt her. At a young age, she learned that everyone’s words and actions were motivated by something. That’s why she never hates or attacks the people who hurt her. In order to protect her heart, she just puts distance between them and herself.
Despite that, she quickly opens up to Arthur not long after meeting him. He’s gruff and clumsy, but sincere with a horribly wounded heart. After accidentally seeing inside Arthur, she couldn’t just abandon him. She reached out a hand of salvation, asking nothing in return, but found the doors to her own heart opening in the process.
Olivia kept her own heart shut despite being able to see others’. Arthur became a mercenary in order to survive but was unable to endure the damage it did to his heart.
And all sorts of people watch over the two of them. All the characters are connected through the delicious taste of homemade soup.
Marguerite, Olivia’s grandmother, who loved her so deeply, wished that one day Olivia would be able to open her heart and trust others. And surely, that wish will come true someday.
Please take your time and enjoy this story, where Olivia, who had always wished she’d been born an animal and suffered because of her ability, joins hands with Arthur and begins a life where she starts to look towards the future.
Muni kindly created the incredible illustrations for this book. I’ll never forget how emotional I felt when I first saw the completed cover illustration. I remember thinking, “This is the exact essence I was going for!”
It was moving to see vague images in my mind take on such a clear form. It gave me goosebumps.
There’s the inside of Soup Forest, the sort of place that makes you feel nostalgic, the detailed plants and animals of the forest, Olivia and Arthur with peaceful expressions. I was relieved to see they weren’t wearing broad grins, as this is a story of them living while being hopeful for tomorrow despite the scars and painful memories they carry. Muni, I want to thank you so much for picking up on my intentions and giving them this form.
I hope that, not only do you pick up this book when you want to feel at peace, but also that you pick it up when you are in pain or tired, and that this story can give you that small courage you need to live to see another day.
On this lucky day, March 2023.
Syuu