From one of Japan's most respected literary voices comes a darkly humorous story about fractured family bonds.
Kayoko has broken off all ties with her only sibling, her ne’er-do-well brother Yasuyumi, who ever since high school has been getting girls pregnant and stealing money from relatives. But at the moment, in the bustling streets of Osaka under a blazing sun, she and another woman—who claims to be Yasuyumi’s recently abandoned fiancée—are trying to find him. Kayoko blames her brother for causing the stress that brought about her mother’s death, and she wants to confront him. Fiancée Mieko, on the other hand, wants to hurry up and marry him and even have a baby, since surely having a family of his own will make him stop running away.
Will they find Yasuyumi, and if they do, what bonds, if any, will survive?
Mitsuyo Kakuta is the author of Woman on the Other Shore and The Eighth Day and the recipient of 14 literary prizes in Japan. She lives in Tokyo.
Cover design by Andrew Lee.
Kayoko has broken off all ties with her only sibling, her ne’er-do-well brother Yasuyumi, who ever since high school has been getting girls pregnant and stealing money from relatives. But at the moment, in the bustling streets of Osaka under a blazing sun, she and another woman—who claims to be Yasuyumi’s recently abandoned fiancée—are trying to find him. Kayoko blames her brother for causing the stress that brought about her mother’s death, and she wants to confront him. Fiancée Mieko, on the other hand, wants to hurry up and marry him and even have a baby, since surely having a family of his own will make him stop running away.
Will they find Yasuyumi, and if they do, what bonds, if any, will survive?
Mitsuyo Kakuta is the author of Woman on the Other Shore and The Eighth Day and the recipient of 14 literary prizes in Japan. She lives in Tokyo.
Cover design by Andrew Lee.
