From the author of The Hole and The Factory, a collection of strange and wonderful tales of humans, animals, and plantsCrabs scurrying over a landfill. Huge tadpoles writhing in a pond. A gecko stuck to the window. A sudden invasion of ants. Nature mysteriously creeps in and overruns the realm of humans in this stunning collection of stories.Hiroko Oyamada masterfully conveys the sense that seemingly stable and ordinary people are cracking...

In the first book of an exquisite and sensuous award-winning series, a reclusive ex-bookseller is hired to work under a highly unusual but gifted perfumer, who creates custom-made fragrances for complicated—and sometimes dangerous—clients.After leaving her job as a bookseller, Ichika Wakamiya is living a lethargic life. Unemployed, indifferent, and all too comfortable in the darkness of her bedroom, days pass, but nothing seems to change. Until one day, Ichika spot...

The Akutagawa Prize-winning stories from one of the most highly regarded and provocative contemporary Japanese writers 'The nightingale sang again. The plates on the table gleamed, and the food, in all its ceaseless variety, breathed, glossy and bright. The night had only just begun.' In these three haunting and lyrical stories, three young women experience unsettling loss and romance. In a dreamlike adventure, one woman travels through an apparently unending night with a porcelain girlfri...

Who doesn't want a second chance at life?Read the original and moving literary gem for fans of Banana Yoshimoto and Kawaguchi's BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD, with stunning illustrated endpapers.What if you could come back after death to watch over your loved one, installing yourself in a treasured mug, for example, or perhaps your mother's hearing aid, a diary, or even a climbing frame, to feel the clambering limbs of a beloved sist...

Asa tries to give her classmate a biscuit.Nami evades her classmates' playground game of acorn-throwing.Happy decides she's not interested in doing anything other than lying down on her sofa.Each of these three stories begins in a reasonable place-but by the end you'll find yourself in another world altogether.

'Chilling.' Vogue'As unusual as it is alluring.' Elle'Delightfully disturbing.' Refinery 29'Very powerful.' Sayaka Murata'Disquieting.' Paula Hawkins'You will be obsessed.' Leila SlimaniThe Woman in the Purple Skirt is being watched. Someone is following her, always perched just out of sight, monitoring ...

A hilarious, feminist read from a new star in Japanese fiction.For the sake of women everywhere, Ms Shibata is going to pull off the mother of all deceptions.One day at work, Ms Shibata refuses to clear away the coffee cups, because she is pregnant, and cannot bear the smell. The only thing is, Ms Shibata is not pregnant.At first, the lie offers her freedom. But being a mother-to-be is not easy. Ms Shibata has a nine-month ruse to k...

**A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR · Marie Claire“A taut and compelling depiction of loneliness and obsession.” --Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train“[It] will keep you firmly in its grip.” --Oyinkan Braithwaite, bestselling author of My Sister, the Serial Killer“The love child of Eugene Ionesco and Patricia Highsmith.” --Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get in TroubleA bestse...

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I've been wanting to become the friend of the Woman in the Purple Skirt for a very long time . . .The Woman in the Purple Skirt seems to live in a world of her own. She appears to glide through crowded streets without acknowledging any reaction her presence elicits. Each afternoon, she sits on the same park bench, eating a pastry and ignoring the local children who make a game of trying to get her attention.She may not know it...

**A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR · Marie Claire“A taut and compelling depiction of loneliness and obsession.” --Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train“[It] will keep you firmly in its grip.” --Oyinkan Braithwaite, bestselling author of My Sister, the Serial Killer“The love child of Eugene Ionesco and Patricia Highsmith.” --Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get in TroubleA bestse...

**Brought to you by Penguin.A JAPANESE MODERN CLASSICDiscover the highly original and moving literary gem for fans of Banana Yoshimoto and Kawaguchi's BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD**What if you could come back after death to watch over your loved one, installing yourself in a treasured mug, for example, or perhaps your mother's hearing aid, a diary, or even a climbing frame, to be clambered over by a younger sister you will never meet?Eleven recently deceased ...

Asa tries to give her classmate a biscuit.Nami evades her classmates' playground game of acorn-throwing.Happy decides she's not interested in doing anything other than lying down on her sofa.Each of these three stories begins in a reasonable place-but by the end you'll find yourself in another world altogether.