Water Moon

Samantha Sotto Yambao’s novel Water Moon is a work of magical realism published in 2025. Set primarily in Tokyo, Japan, Water Moon follows the main character, Hana, as she searches for meaning, purpose, and happiness after assuming control of her family’s magical pawnshop business. The novel uses the third-person point of view and incorporates elements of fantasy, adventure, and realism to explore themes relating to happiness, freedom, and life’s inherent conflicts.

This guide refers to the 2025 Penguin Random House hardback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death and substance use.

Plot Summary

Twenty-one-year-old Hana wakes up the morning after her father, Toshio, retires, passing her family’s pawnshop business over to her. When Hana goes downstairs, she discovers that the shop has been ransacked. She enters the shop’s vault and is horrified to see that someone released one of the precious, glowing birds from its cage.

At the pawnshop (which usually appears to clients as a ramen restaurant), Hana and Toshio’s clients can exchange the choices they regret for peace of mind. These choices take the form of luminescent birds.