Published in October of 2025, Kintsugi, the debut literary offering from author Tricia Bonse, is a thoughtful and emotionally intense novel. It explores how broken lives are not meant to be hidden, but honored. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese art of repairing shattered pottery with gold, the author delivers a story that examines grief, displacement, and the fragile beauty of becoming whole again.
This book is a cautionary tale of how an unfit leader and his treasonous goal to turn a free nation into a fascist one, and an attempt to lay claim to the entire world, ends in the demise of his entire cabinet. The imagined superiority and entitlement to all he surveys in the aftermath of a pandemic seals his fate and sparks WW III and a second American Civil War, decimating the world’s population, human and otherwise.
At its core, Kintsugi is a meditation on damage and dignity. The novel follows characters shaped by loss, impermanence, and emotional fractures. Rather than relying on dramatic spectacle, Tricia leans into subtlety, revealing how the most immense changes often occur in silence, reflection, and human connection. The story progresses with careful restraint, allowing readers to sit with discomfort, vulnerability, and ultimately, renewal.
The author’s prose is measured and lyrical, carrying a contemplative tone that mirrors the philosophy behind the novel’s title. Like the practice of kintsugi itself, the narrative does not attempt to erase the past. Instead, it enhances it, suggesting that scars, once acknowledged, become sources of strength rather than shame. Themes of belonging, emotional inheritance, and resilience are present throughout the book. They offer readers an intimate experience that feels both deeply personal and universally relevant.
What distinguishes Kintsugi is its moral clarity without sentimentality. The author resists easy resolutions, trusting readers to engage with complexity and emotional nuance. The novel speaks to anyone who has ever felt uprooted, damaged, or unsure of where they belong, and gently reminds them that repair is not about returning to what once was, but embracing what now exists.
Elegant, reflective, and quietly courageous, the novel lingers long after it has been read. It invites readers to reconsider how they view brokenness, not as an ending, but as the beginning of something truer, stronger, and more beautiful.
Kintsugi is now available in print and digital formats at leading online bookstores.
About the Author
Tricia Bonse grew up as a Navy BRAT (Born, Raised, and Trained), moving every two to three years throughout her childhood. That nomadic upbringing shaped her worldview, teaching her to live lightly, form meaningful connections quickly, and see humanity not as divided by borders, but bound together on a shared life raft where survival depends on collective care.
