Nails and Eyes (Japanese Novellas)

This is a celebration of the Japanese short story from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to remarkable contemporary works. It includes the most well-known Japanese writers – Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata – but also many surprising new pieces, from Yuko Tsushima’s ‘Flames’ to Banana Yoshimoto’s ‘Bee Honey’. Ranging over myth, horror, love, nature, […]

‘Tokyo Express is an irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose’ Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train ‘A classic of postwar Japanese crime fiction’ Financial Times ‘It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.’ In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies […]

The dead wreak revenge on the living, paintings come alive, spectral brides possess mortal men and a priest devours human flesh in these chilling Japanese ghost stories retold by a master of the supernatural. Lafcadio Hearn drew on the phantoms and ghouls of traditional Japanese folklore – including the headless ‘rokuro-kubi’, the monstrous goblins ‘jikininki’ […]

Out is a psychologically taut and unflinching foray into the darkest recesses of the human soul, an unsettling reminder that the desperate desire for freedom can make the most ordinary