Breasts And Eggs

'Breathtaking' - Haruki Murakami author of Norwegian Wood A beguiling novel about three women struggling to determine their own lives in contemporary Tokyo. A New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year' and one of Elena Ferrante's 'Top 40 Books by Female Authors' On a hot summer's day in a poor suburb of Tokyo we meet three women: thirty-year-old Natsuko; her older sister Makiko; and Makiko's teenage daughter Midoriko. Makiko; an ageing hostess despairing the loss of her looks; has travelled to Tokyo in search of breast enhancement surgery. She's accompanied by Midoriko; who has recently stopped speaking; finding herself unable to deal with her own changing body and her mother's self-obsession. Her silence dominates Natsuko's rundown apartment; providing a catalyst for each woman to grapple with their own anxieties and their relationships with one another. Eight years later; we meet Natsuko again. She is now a writer and finds herself on a journey back to her native city; returning to memories of that summer and her family's past as she faces her own uncertain future. In Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami paints a radical and intimate portrait of contemporary working class womanhood in Japan; recounting the heartbreaking journeys of three women in a society where the odds are stacked against them. This is an unforgettable English language debut from a major new international talent. 'Bold; modern and surprising' - An Yu; author of Braised Pork 'Incredible and propulsive' - Naoise Dolan; author of Exciting Times Shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.