The Pact Between Banana Leaves and Trees

Nakao Eki Pacidal, a Taiwanese writer living in the Netherlands
A tender work gazing upon the hometown

Two young men from Mataian, bound by a century-old promise to take each other home. In the 1920s, two brothers from the Mataian tribe in Hualien Harbor were selected as key players for the Takasago baseball team, earning them a chance to travel to Japan. In the 2020s, a baseball player named Chi-Lang, also from Mataian, studying in Kyoto, encountered an unidentified ghost and promised to take him home. But where is the ghost's home, and who was he in his previous life?

What happened a hundred years ago?
Why do lovers separate?
Can a human help a ghost regain his/her memories of his/her past life, and can a ghost help a human find his/her future direction?

From tribal villages to Hualien, from Hualien to Kyoto; in pursuit of baseball and love, experiencing both tenderness and cruelty. Fragmented historical memories, changing names and languages, and altered hometown landscapes all hinder the way home.

Will they be able to keep their promise and bring each other home?

"This novel, at first glance, seems to be based on the Nohko baseball team, but it's not actually a story about history (rekishi) written down. Rather, it's rooted in personal memories and emotions, a story about the past (inacila). It's my reflection and return to my hometown as a child of Taipalang and Mataian." — Nakao Eki Pacidal

About the Author

Nakao Eki Pacidal

A member of the Amis tribe of the Taibalang community. A PhD candidate in History at Leiden University, Netherlands. Residing in the Netherlands, she primarily engages in writing, translation, and research, and has long been involved in the international indigenous rights movement. She excels in historical fiction and indigenous literature, and has won the Taiwan Literature Award for Indigenous Short Stories. She has published over ten novels on the Mirror Literature platform, incorporating elements of suspense, mystery, and romance.

Published novels: *The Curse of the Isolated Island*, *Her Right Brain and the Pink Elephant*, *Vivaldi's Secret Letters*
Translated works: *The Earth Has Written a Diary for Four Billion Years*, *Corporate Men and Women*, *The Spanish Experience of Taiwan: A Renaissance Mandate and Its Baroque End*, *The Old Way: A Journey Measured by Footsteps*, *Beneath the Earth: A Place Where Time Is Infinitely Deep*, *Serma: Escaping Hitler's Clutches, Yet Becoming Mao Zedong's Prisoner*, *Wild Realm*

"Makaketonay to paloma" is an Amis word meaning "to promise each other to take each other home."