Tokyo is in its summertime. In addition to instructing ten-year-old Mieko in an apartment in a closed hotel, Claire is also spending time at her grandparents' house lying on the floor daydreaming, playing Tetris, and listening to the sounds from the street above. The days fly by as the temperature rises. Her grandparents started Shiny, a pachinko parlour, when they first came in Tokyo after escaping the Korean Civil War. With its dazzling, flashing lights and assurances of riches, Shiny is still open and luring people inside. And as Mieko and Claire grow closer and develop a delicate relationship, Claire's yearning to travel to Korea with her grandparents grows along with Mieko's eagerness to go to the pachinko parlour. The Pachinko Parlour is a nuanced and beguiling exploration of identity and otherness, unspoken histories, and the loneliness you can feel amongst family. Crisp and enigmatic, Dusapin?s writing glows with intelligence.