After the last chapter of Otoyomegatari (actually Chapter 69, as 70 was a brief Amir-Karluk interlude) I found myself wishing for a little more of Talas’ backstory.  Especially as it related to her husband – the man who undertook a dangerous journey across the width of Turkey to help his new wife find the man she was actually in love with.  Guys like that certainly don’t grow on trees – it didn’t seem right for him to just disappear into the mountains with a wave.

Sure enough, Mori-sensei has decided to backfill this story a bit, for at least one chapter anyway.  And the message that comes across is exactly as you would have expected – Talas is hopelessly in love with Mr. Smith, and her husband (I still don’t think we’ve even been given his name) must be the nicest guy on the planet.  Not only did he decline to hold Talas to her marriage vows and refuse to allow her to search for Smith on her own, he seemingly spent most of whatever money he had on the trip.  Fortunately she had a fair bit of jewelery to hock to keep a roof over their heads in Ankara while she searched.

I the saddest part of all this for me was when hubby said “Maybe it’s a bit early to talk about this, but have you thought of what you’ll do if you can’t find him?”  It struck me as his one moment of fallibility – when he allowed himself to hope for just a moment that he might have a chance.  But he didn’t press the issue (naturally) and soon enough Talas finds her man and that makes the question moot anyway.

We’re no closer to learning what the future holds for Talas and Mr. Smith (I don’t think Smith is going to change his mind about staying in Turkey, but Talas does muddy the waters just a bit), but it was nice to see a bit more about the past just the same.  Mori is a master of the non-linear narrative, as she’s consistently proving with this series, and this is another example of that.