Emily Midorikawa

Anna has never met anybody like Loll: a British hostess at the Moonglow bar in the Japanese city of Osaka. With her blonde wigs and shimmering dresses, Loll cuts a mesmerising figure. But Anna is troubled by the secrets Loll hides; the identity of her best client with shadowy links to the city's crime underworld; and the sight Anna witnesses one afternoon: Loll teetering on the edge of a railway track, caught in the deafening rush as a train hurtles by. Whereas Anna has come to Osaka to learn more about her half-Japanese heritage, Loll has no clear reason for being there and no easily discernible past. And so when she disappears, there are only the barest clues as to where she might have gone. Soon Anna is thrown onto a trail that will take her into the darkest corners of the neon-choked metropolis - hidden, forbidden places from which those who know the city best warn her to stay away.

<p><b>'Exquisitely written and utterly compelling' SUSAN BARKER</b><br><br><b>'The soul of a stylish mystery and the pace of an old-fashioned thriller' MOHAMMED HANIF</b><br><br><b>'Elegant, edgy and cinematic' EMMA CLAIRE SWEENEY</b><br><br>Anna has never met anyone like the enigmatic Loll: a British hostess at the Moonglow bar, in the Japanese city of Osaka. While Anna teaches bored students by day, Loll passes the nights in smoky, dim-lit rooms where she pours men's drinks, lights their cigarettes and laughs playfully at their jokes.<br><br>With her blonde wigs, shimmering dresses and bejewelled nails, Loll cuts a mesmerising figure. But her skin bears unexplained bruises beneath its glittering facade, and Anna's concern slowly begins to grow. She is troubled by the secret of the carved jade stone necklace that her glamorous new friend seems determined to protect; the mysterious identity of Loll's best client with shadowy links to the city's underworld crime bosses; and the sight Anna witnesses one afternoon: Loll teetering alone on the edge of a railway track, caught in the deafening rush as a train hurtles by.<br><br>Unlike Anna who has come to Osaka to learn more about her half-Japanese heritage, Loll seems to have no clear reason for being there and no easily discernible past. And so when she suddenly disappears, there are only the barest of clues as to where she might have gone. But, desperate to find her friend, Anna refuses to give up. Soon she is thrown onto a trail that will take her into the darkest corners of the neon-choked metropolis - hidden, forbidden places from which those who know the city best warn her to stay away.</p>

Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend, but what about the friendships of women writers? A Secret Sisterhood, drawing on letters and diaries, some never published before, brings to light a wealth of surprising female collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, amateur playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and the ebullient Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always--until now--tantalizingly consigned to the shadows.