The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (17)

I loved this book! The Professor is an elderly man who experienced an accident several years before so his recent memory is limited to 80 minutes. A housekeeper is hired to look after him so every day a young single woman with a little boy comes to his house to do the cooking and cleaning. A sort of family relationship develops among the characters as they get to know each other and learn from each other. The housekeeper and the little boy especially learn a lot of math from the professor. This novel is set in Japan and was translated from the Japanese. It is really charming and a worthwhile read.