Yuki Tejima

Adored by readers, the million-copy Japanese magical realist mystery for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD. If you could meet any dead person of your choosing for one night, who would it be? When Hirase, a young woman from Tokyo arranges an appointment with The Go-Between, she doesn't expect a teenager to show up. Dressed preppy-style in a duffel coat and carrying a notebook, he communicates with the dead - at least, this is what Hirase has pieced together from the Internet - offering them a chance to travel back into the real world. He quickly lays down some ground-rules: you are allowed only one meeting with the dead, for a single night; the dead person must not have been called back by anyone else before, plus they have the right to refuse. Lastly, the service is entirely free. Four more characters will enlist the Go-Between for an emotional encounter with the dead. What is the mystery behind this smart young man with the notebook and why does he insist on meeting in, of all places, a freezing cold hospital carpark? Utterly unique and soul-stirring, THE GO-BETWEEN explores the wonder of life, the magic of the ordinary and the importance of friendship and always making amends, from Japan's best-loved magical realist mystery author.

Rika Horauchi's new part-time job is to converse with a statue of Venus - in Latin - every Monday, when the museum is closed. Initially reluctant, Rika starts to enjoy her strange new job. Recommended by her old university professor for her exemplary language skills, Rika leads an otherwise unassuming life, working the rest of the week in a frozen-food warehouse. As Venus comes to life in the quiet of the museum, they talk about everything. Venus opens up new worlds for Rika, both intellectually and emotionally. They soon fall in love. But when the museum's curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do? When the Museum is Closed is by turns charming, funny and surprising, a surreal take on our most real emotions and concerns: love, loneliness, freedom, perceptions of beauty and how women are seen in society. This fresh and original new novel confirms Emi Yagi as one of the most exciting Japanese writers published in English today. Translated by Yuki Tejima

PICK UP YOUR NEXT READ FOR FANS OF LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR and BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD - the story of a young man with special powers to connect the living with the afterlife. From the multi-million-copy bestselling author of LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR and LOST SOULS MEET UNDER A FULL MOON Ayumi is a young man with special powers to bring back the dead to meet the living. A gift passed down in his family, he is able to arrange meetings according to strict rules and always under a full moon. After years in this role, he begins to question its meaning, and how his powers affect his own desires in the real world. Meanwhile, he helps out five characters: -A young film star finds resolution with the father who abandoned him, but not as he expected; - An amateur historian is obsessed to meet a minor warlord of the sixteenth century; -Ayumi anxiously juggles two meetings on the same evening, both have lost their daughters; -A former cook, whose request to visit an upper-class young woman in the afterlife has been repeatedly rejected, is finally granted his wish. Find out how Ayumi and his clients learn to lose their regrets, open up to the unexpected, and cherish what they already have in this profound and moving novel by Japan's leading storyteller. Now read: LOST SOULS MEET UNDER A FULL MOON

It's early 2020, and with the world in chaos as covid spreads, two lonely people, both seeking to break with their pasts, meet and start sharing a home. One is a former security guard who was captured on video knocking down a protester who died soon afterward; the other, a former teacher accused of driving a student to suicide. In an oppressive atmosphere of tension and fear, the pair avoid direct contact and communicate through notes and their shared presences, close yet distant. Their odd connection, with neither affection nor trust, brings them a kind of privacy and safety they both need - but at what cost? The book's creeping tension draws out an unforgettable story of disconnection and disruptive change.