<b>THE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLER<BR><BR> Tender and intense, <i>Honeybees and Distant Thunder</i> is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.</b><BR><BR>In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous—and painful—moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever.<BR><BR>Aya was a child prodigy who abruptly gave up performing after the death of her mother, and is now trying for a comeback; Masaru, a childhood friend of Aya who came to the piano through her insistence that he learn to play, is now reunited with her after many years, and is equally invested in both his and her success; Akashi, who is older and married, works in a music store