The Heron Catchers

2023 American Writing Awards Finalist | 2023 Foreword Indies Awards Finalist

Joiner's second novel set in the fabled Kanazawa area is an intimate yet understated look at an American who seeks recovery after his marriage to a Japanese woman has failed.
After Nozomi abandons Sedge and their marriage, taking all their money and leaving him with a ceramics shop he can't manage alone, her brother and his wife offer him a lifeline at their Japanese hot spring inn until he can get back on his feet. As he proceeds forward from this devastation in his life, he becomes involved with the wife of the man Nozomi ran off with as well as her stepson, a troubled 16-year-old whose jealousy and potential for violence contrasts with his interest in birds, origami, and the haiku of Matsuo Basho. What unfolds in the shadow of "the immortal mountain of cranes" will change their lives forever.
Set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen near the Sea of Japan, The Heron Catchers explores the importance of recognizing suffering both in others and in oneself, of being compassionate, and of trusting those who offer love in the shattering wake of loss.
The Heron Catchers is the second in a series of novels set in and around the Japanese city of Kanazawa.