Kaori Ozaki

From Kaori Ozaki, author of the gods lie. and Mermaid Prince, comes another poignant exploration of love, family, and belonging. After leaving her isolating life in Tokyo, 34-year-old Nichiko returns to her remote island hometown for her estranged alcoholic father’s final days. There she meets Chimaki, an eccentric young man who stirs up old memories—and feelings Nichiko had all but decided she no longer deserved. But despite his puppy-like enthusiasm for life, Chimaki’s almost obsessive need to help those around him seems to be compensating for an unspeakable past...

Where do you belong? On the edge of death and danger, to feel life flowing through you? Can you find shelter in a space not meant for you? When new people move into your life, will there still be enough room left for you? From the author of The Gods Lie and The Golden Sheep. Mermaid Prince explores such complex themes in a series of short stories that highlight the beauty, wonder, pain, and loneliness that can come from feeling adrift in the world, as well as the joy that can accompany finding your own anchor amidst the seas of change. Mugi, a transfer student from Tokyo now living in a southern island of Japan, can stand the new sunburn and the bullying he receives at school. It's the ocean, the water that he doesn't know how to swim in, and the brother-in-law who's making his older sister so happy, that he can't handle. Ever since his parents passed and this stranger became 'family,' Mugi's felt like there's nowhere he belongs, like maybe he should just... drown. Feeling out of place in his own home, he turns for refuge to his one friend, local girl Matori, whose grandmother tells them about a mysterious legend surrounding mermaids in a secret cove who will grant one wish to whoever they meet. So when Mugi's brother-in-law gets swept off to sea trying to save a carless swimmer in rough waters, it's up to Mugi to try to make things right sink or swim. Also includes two short stories, one following a young girl trying to navigate the complicated emotions that come with trauma and the difficulty of growing up and apart from friends, and another about a librarian who encounters an unusual father and son seeking shelter from the snow.

From the creator of the acclaimed "The God's Lie", comes Kaori Ozaki's latest series! Tsugu and Sora ran away from home, Yuushin took on the challenging professional boxer test, and Asari broke off ties with the girls in her class... Nothing is turning out the way they’d hoped. Even in the face of such painful headwinds, they continue their restless adolescent journey...

'They say if you write down your wish, bury it under Sheep Tower and then dig it up after 7 years and 7 months, your wish will come true...' Tsugu Miikura, a high schooler who loves to play guitar, due to family circumstances, moved away from the rural town where she had spent her childhood. After several years, she's back in her old hometown. She reunites with her childhood friends - Sora, Yuushin, and Asari - the friends she'd buried a time capsule with back in elementary school. Tsugu is overjoyed to be with her friends once more, but the bonds that she thought would never change have in fact started to grow major cracks...

From the creator of the acclaimed The Gods Lie comes Kaori Ozaki's latest series! Winter of junior year. Not quite able to become adults, we couldn’t stay as we were as children, either. Our tale explores a group of teenagers and their impatience and rebirth. “They say if you write down your wish, bury it under Sheep Tower and then dig it up after 7 years and 7 months, your wish will come true…” Tsugu Miikura, a high schooler who loves to play guitar, due to family circumstances, moved away from the rural town where she had spent her childhood. After several years, she’s back in her old hometown. She reunites with her childhood friends—Sora, Yuushin, and Asari—the friends she’d buried a time capsule with back in elementary school. Tsugu is overjoyed to be with her friends once more, but the bonds that she thought would never change have in fact started to grow major cracks...