In Dewdrop World parallel stories of love and struggle unfold in contemporary New Orleans and Old Japan. In New Orleans, the narrator falls for Serene, a woman with a deadly secret. In Old Japan, we follow the adventures of the Poet in Green, Mido, who finds himself the unlikely protector of a runaway geisha who is not at all who she appears to be. Snapshots of life in the form of one-breath poetry punctuate the two interwoven plots that together express a Buddhist truth about the nature of life on this fragile, fading "dewdrop world." With Dewdrop World Lanoue’s quintet of "haiku novels" comes full circle. The last installment in terms of publication date, Dewdrop World serves as a prequel to the first book, Haiku Guy, describing events in Old Japan during the months preceding the action in Haiku Guy. Dewdrop World is a good starting place for readers who will want to move on to the haiku-peppered madness of Haiku Guy, Laughing Buddha, Haiku Wars, and Frog Poet.
