'If travel dislodges us from our usual strictures, what might we then become? If we go together, who might we then become to each other? The by-products of travel are innumerable—new discoveries, sensations, energies, stories to tell. In Jessica Au’s Cold Enough For Snow (2022), the narrator returns to Japan, bringing her mother, who has never visited. The novel follows the details of their trip from beginning to end—what they eat, which artworks they see, the temples they visit. But what the narrator desires lies beyond a meticulous itinerary—it’s something that cannot be planned.' (Introduction)
