Released earlier this year by TouchPoint Press, The Same Moon is the story of a young woman who runs far, far away to find her way home. 

Recently wed—and quickly divorced—twenty-four-year-old Sarah Coomber escapes the disappointments of her Minnesota life for a job teaching English in Japan. Her plan is to use the year to reflect, heal and figure out what to do with her wrecked life while enjoying the culture of the country where she had previously spent a life-changing summer that included a romance with a young baseball player.

The reality?

Sarah finds herself the lone English speaker in an isolated rural area, where she is drawn into serving tea to her male coworkers, performing with a koto (zither) group, advocating for her female students and colleagues, and embarking on a controversial romance with a local salaryman.

This isn’t the Japan Sarah was seeking, but it just might be the Japan she needs.

“Sarah Coomber has written an insightful story about her journey to Japan and a journey to find herself. Readers will enjoy an entertaining and honest account of a young woman’s self-discovery in a foreign land.”
—Laura Kriska, author of The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan, and cross-cultural consultant

Sarah has three hometowns: Moorhead, Minnesota—where she grew up; Vancouver, Washington—where she lives now; and Hagi-shi, Yamaguchi-ken—where at age sixteen she spent a summer with the Maeda family. They treated her like their third daughter and welcomed her into an on-again, off-again Japanese life.

She has worked as a newspaper reporter, science writer, college English teacher, communications consultant and communications manager for school districts in Washington state. She teaches yoga and lives with her family in Vancouver, where the topography, climate and people’s temperaments remind her of her hometown on the other side of the ocean.

For more information on The Same Moon, including media coverage, book group information and events, please visit Sarah’s website.