A Letter From Norman (ノーマンからの手紙, Norman kara no Tegami?) is a spinoff novel written by Nanao (七緒), based on The Promised Neverland Manga written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu.
The novel is first published on June 4, 2018 in Japan under Shueisha's Jump j-Books. The release date for an English translated version of the novel is yet to be confirmed.
It was announced that a sequel spinoff novel is set to be published on 4 January 2019 alongside Volume 12 of the manga. The sequel is titled "Moms' Song of Remembrance".[1]
Synopsis
On the day before Norman is set to leave Grace Field House, he goes through various memories he has of Emma and the other kids in the facility.
Plot
Prologue
To my dearest Emma,
After running into the forest, Norman sat next to Ivet as he started writing on a piece of sketching paper that she had given him. Ivet was happily shaking her leg to and fro as she drew on her sketchbook.
That took place on the third of November in the afternoon, the tender autumn wind kissed the forest. Norman, who was wearing his sweater, still felt a tad bit cold. In a blink of an eye, summer has come to an end.
Norman gazed through the gaps of the tree branches as he saw clouds floating pass in the sky.
Who would have thought after catching a glimpse of despair over the Grace Field's wall, one could still be in a state of serenity.
Tonight, Norman shall be "shipped-out".
"Norman, what are you drawing?" Ivet tilt her head as she stares at Norman. Norman smiled warmly as he sees her face, so filled with blissful innocence and purity.
"I'm writing a letter."
Ivet nodded her head, "I'm drawing tha tree ober there!" the young girl grabbed her pencil as she continued to draw.
The younger children are still unaware of the truth behind the House.
Norman turned his head to look at it.
He always thought the Grace Field House, the place where siblings with no blood relations and a gentle foster mother, is a peaceful and harmonious orphanage where they spent a happy childhood in.
But all of these is just a facade, a facade that hides the truth of the orphanage.
Norman stopped writing.
That faithful night, they were exposed to the truth of Grace Field.
At the night of October the twelfth, Conny was adopted by foster parents, and had hence left the House.
The children here will be sent to foster parents before they reach the age of twelve. Currently, the oldest children are only eleven, and they are Norman, Emma and Ray.
"Today is Conny's last day, huh."
During the free period of Conny's last day, Emma was congratulating Conny on her new journey in life. Emma placed her hand on her chest.
Her antenna-like bright orange hair danced in the gentle wind. Meanwhile, Ray was sitting by himself reading his book.
"Another person left before us. Again." Somewhere deep in his heart, Norman sighed. For him, Emma and Ray are his family and dearest friends throughout his life.
Emma is an athletic and cheerful individual who deeply cares for her family. Ray is an extremely intelligent realist who is also a tad bit eccentric. Though the thre have dissimilar personalities, whenever they do
The Ghosts Incidents at Grace Field House
The Day Emma Cried
Norman, Emma, Ray in Birds Cages
A Gift from the 39th Girl
Characters
Research Elements
- The cover of the novel is one of the many fisheye illustrations done by Posuka Demizu. Other fisheye illustrations done by the latter include:
- All the events that took place after the prologue are prior to the main story, before the Introduction Arc.
- The story is written in Norman's perspective.
- Norman writing his letter to Emma could be seen in a flashback scene in Chapter 34 of the manga, as he used a piece of drawing paper from Ivet to write.
- Norman's shipping date from Grace Field House is on 3 November 2045. Which all happened in Chapter 30 of the manga.[2][3]
- There were at least 4 known orphans who were older than Emma, Norman and Ray: Olivia, Michelle, Marcus, and Robert.
- In a Q&A with Kaiu Shirai, it was revealed that Olivia and Michelle are the two girls who were shown in the Christmas Omake Chapter 21.5.
- In a Q&A with Kaiu Shirai, it was revealed that Olivia and Michelle are the two girls who were shown in the Christmas Omake Chapter 21.5.
- Ray is not a superstitious person unlike most of the other orphans in Grace Field, as he do not believe in the existence of ghosts.Citation needed
- Ray revealed how all the books he had read are fantasy books, thus implying how fantasy is his favorite genre of books.[4]
Author Comments
- Below are fan-translations of the authors' comments, please scroll down to "See Also" for more information.
Gallery
See Also
- Nanao, author of the novel.
- The names of the new characters, chapter titles, the novelist's name, and the overall story are fan-translations, hence they are not entirely accurate, and so are the page numbers. Kudos to Reddit users USAghoul and Mordred14394 for translating parts of the novel's content.
- Fan-translations of the novel could be found here.
References
- ↑ @Yakuneba_staff on Twitter sequel novel announcement.
- ↑ The novel's blurb in the back cover
- ↑ A Letter from Norman: Prologue, page 8
- ↑ A Letter from Norman: Chapter 1, page 23
| Volumes |
| ||
| Spinoffs |
| ||
| Miscellaneous |
| ||
