Ernakulam Public Library Search for 'su:"Japanese fiction "'

TEACH US TO OUTGROW OUR MADNESS - Four Short Novels

By Ōe, Kenzaburō. New York Grove Press 1994 , These four novels display Oe’s passionate and original vision. Oe was ten when American jeeps first drove into the mountain village where he lived, and his literary work reveals the tension and ambiguity forged by the collapse of values of his childhood on the one hand and the confrontation with American writers on the other. The earliest of his novels included here, Prize Stock, reveals the strange relationship between a Japanese boy and a captured black American pilot in a Japanese village. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness tells of the close relationship between an outlandishly fat father and his mentally defective son, Eeyore. Aghwee the Sky Monster is about a young man’s first job — chaperoning a banker’s son who is haunted by the ghost of a baby in a white nightgown. The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away is the longest piece in this collection and Oe’s most disturbing work to date. The narrator lies in a hospital bed waiting to die of a liver cancer that he has probably imagined, wearing a pair of underwater goggles covered with dark cellophane 9780802151858

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HEAR THE WIND SING AND PINPALL,1973 (Wind/Pinball : two novels)

By Murakami,Haruki. London Vintage 1984 , "The debut short novels--nearly thirty years out of print-- by the internationally acclaimed writer, newly retranslated and in one English-language volume for the first time, with a new introduction by the author. These first major works of fiction by Haruki Murakami center on two young men--an unnamed narrator and his friend and former roommate, the Rat. Powerful, at times surreal, stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism, these novellas bear all the hallmarks of Murakami's later books, giving us a fascinating insight into a great writer's beginnings, and are remarkable works of fiction in their own right. Here too is an exclusive essay by Murakami in which he explores and explains his decision to become a writer. Prequels to the much-beloved classics A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance, these early works are essential reading for Murakami completists and contemporary fiction lovers alike"-- Provided by publisher. Notes "The book is a completely new translation (by Ted Goossen) of Haruki Murakami's novels HEAR THE WIND SING (originally published in Japan as Kaze no uta o kike in 1979) and PINBALL, 1973 (originally published in Japan as 1973 nen no pinbōru in 1980). Knopf is publishing them together as "WIND/PINBALL" in hardcover in August 2015" "This is a Borzoi book" 9780099590392

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NAKANO THRIFT SHOP

By Hiromi Kawakami. London Portobello Books 2017 , When Hitomi takes a job on the cash register of a neighbourhood thrift store, she finds herself drawn into a very idiosyncratic community. There is Mr Nakano, an enigmatic ladies' man with several ex-wives; Masayo, Mr Nakano's sister, an artist who has never married; and her fellow employee Takeo, a shy but charming young man. Every day, customers from the neighbourhood pass in and out as curios are bought and sold, each one containing its own surprising story. When Hitomi and Takeo begin to fall for one another, they find themselves in the centre of their own drama and on the edges of many others. A tender and affecting exploration of the mystery that lurks in the ordinary, this novel traces the seemingly imperceptible threads that weave together a community, and the knots that bind us to one another. 9781846276026

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KILLING COMMENDATORE

By Murakami,Haruki . London Harvill Secker 2018 , Summary: A thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist's home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art. | SHORT STORIES & ANTHOLOGIES / CONTEMPORARY FICTION 9781787300194

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IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD /

By Kawamura, Genki. London Picador 2018 , A beautifully moving tale of loss and reaching out to the ones we love, of one man’s journey to discover what really matters in modern life. Our narrator’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage for company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can set about tackling his bucket list, the Devil appears with a special offer: in exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, he can have one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week . . . Because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the Devil our narrator will take himself – and his beloved cat – to the brink. Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World is a story of loss and reconciliation, of one man’s journey to discover what really matters in modern life. This beautiful tale is translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland, who also translated The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. Fans of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles will also surely love If Cats Disappeared from the World. 9781509889174 (pbk.)

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NAVOMI /നവോമി

By Tanisakki, Junichiro . Kottayam D C Books 2013 9788126449057

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FAREWELL, MY ORANGE

By Iwaki,Kei . New York Europa Editions 2018 , Two immigrants, Salimah and Sayuri, navigate isolation, a new language, and devastating loss on their way to a lifelong friendship. Far from her native country of Nigeria and now living as a single mother of two, Salimah works the night shift at a supermarket in small-town Australia. She is shy and barely speaks English, but pushes herself to sign up for an ESL class offered at the local university. At the group’s first meeting, Salimah meets Sayuri, who has come to Australia from Japan with her husband, a resident research associate at the local college. Sayuri has put her own education on hold to take care of her infant daughter and she is plagued by worries about financial instabilities and her general precariousness. When Sayuri’s daughter dies in daycare and one of Salimah’s boys leaves to live with his father, the two women look to one another for comfort and sustenance, as they slowly master their new language. Written with great warmth, Farewell, My Orange offers optimism in the face of adversity. In the stories of Salimah and Sayuri, readers will find a touching portrait of our need for others and the certainty of change. 9781609454784

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MEMORY POLICE

By Ogawa, Yoko.. London Harvill Secker 2019 , Hat, ribbon, bird, rose. To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed. When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. For some reason, he doesn't forget, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next?" 9781846559495

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PACHINKO

By Min Jin Lee. UK Apollo Books 2020 , This is a captivating book ... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA. Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story. Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival. 9781838930509

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HARD - BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD

By Murakami, Haruki. London Penguin Random House 2003 9780099448785

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SCATTERED ALL OVER THE EARTH

By Yoko Tawada. Great Britain Granta Books 2023 , A mind-expanding, cheerfully dystopian novel about friendship, difference and what it means to belong, by a National Book Award-winning novelist. Welcome to the not-too-distant future. Japan, having vanished into the sea, is now remembered as 'the land of sushi'. Hiruko, a former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): 'homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. no time to learn three different languages. might mix up. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language most Scandinavian people understand'. Hiruko soon makes new friends to join her in her travels searching for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue: Knut, a graduate student in linguistics, who is fascinated by her Panska; Akash, an Indian man who lives as a woman, wearing a red sari; Nanook, an Eskimo from Greenland, first mistaken as another refugee from the land of sushi; and Nora, who works at the Karl Marx House in Trier. All these characters take turns narrating chapters, which feature an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra- nationalist named Breivik; Kakuzo robots; uranium; and an Andalusian bull fight. Episodic, vividly imagined and mesmerising, Scattered All Over the Earth is another sui generis masterwork by Yoko Tawada. 9781783789122

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THE FACTORY

By Hiroko Oyamada. London Granta 2023 , Beyond the town, there is the factory. Beyond the factory, there is nothing. Within the sprawling industrial complex, three new employees are each assigned a department. There, each must focuses on a specific task: one shreds paper, one proofreads documents, and another studies the moss growing all over the expansive grounds. As they grow accustomed to the routine and co-workers, their lives become governed by their work--days take on a strange logic and momentum, and little by little, the margins of reality seem to be dissolving: Where does the factory end and the rest of the world begin? What's going on with the strange animals here? And after a while--it could be weeks or years--the three workers struggle to answer the most basic question: What am I doing here? With hints of Kafka and Beckett and unexpected moments of creeping humour, The Factory is a vivid, and sometimes surreal, portrait of the absurdity and meaninglessness of the modern workplace. 9781803510538

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MEIJI GUILLOTINE MURDERS

By Yamada,Futaro . London Pushkin Press 2023 , An audacious puzzle mystery, woven into an exquisitely crafted historical tale. One of the most original works in the history of Japanese mystery writing’ Haruo Yuki, author of The Ark __________ Tokyo, 1869. It is the dawn of the Meiji era in Japan, but the scars of the recent civil war are yet to heal. The new regime struggles to keep the peace as old scores are settled and dangerous new ideas flood into the country from the West. A new police force promises to bring order to this land of feuding samurai warlords, and chief inspectors Kazuki and Kawaji are two of its brightest stars. Together they investigate a spree of baffling murders across the capital, moving from dingy drinking dens to high-class hotels and the heart of the Imperial Palace. Can they solve these seemingly impossible crimes and save the country from slipping into chaos once more? 9781782278887

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FOUR SEASONS IN JAPAN

By Bradley,Nick . London Transworld Publishers 2023 , A gorgeously crafted book-within-a-book about literature, purpose and what it is to belong from the author of The Cat and The City. Flo is sick of Tokyo. Suffering from a crisis in confidence, she is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a fellow passenger on the Tokyo Subway. From the very first page, Flo is transformed and immediately feels compelled to translate this forgotten novel, a decision which sets her on a path that will change her life... It is a story about Ayako, a fierce and strict old woman who runs a coffee shop in the small town of Onomichi, where she has just taken guardianship of her grandson, Kyo. Haunted by long-buried family tragedy, both have suffered extreme loss and feel unable to open up to each other. As Flo follows the characters across a year in rural Japan, through the ups and downs of the pair's burgeoning relationship, she quickly realizes that she needs to venture outside the pages of the book to track down its elusive author. And, as her two protagonists reveal themselves to have more in common with her life than first meets the eye, the lines between text and translator converge. The journey is just beginning. From the author of The Cat and The City, Four Seasons in Japan is a gorgeously crafted book-within-a-book about literature, purpose and what it is to belong. 9781804991688

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DEAD - END MEMORIES

By Banana Yoshimoto. Berkeley Faber 2024 , Translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda There was no past, no future, no words, nothing - just the light and the yellow and the scent of dry leaves in the sun. Japan's internationally celebrated storyteller returns with five stories of healing and hope. Effortlessly beautiful, nostalgic and melancholy, the stories in Dead-End Memories explore the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, find solace in the blissful moments in everyday life. The daughter of a restaurant owner experiences a budding romance, accompanied by the ghosts of an elderly couple. After a scandalous near-death experience, an editor gains a new lease of life. A woman seeks refuge in the apartment above her uncle's bar after being betrayed by her fiancé. As Yoshimoto's gentle, effortless prose reminds us, one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to see it. 9780571382330

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RESTAURANT OF LOST RECIPES

By Kashiwai, Hisashi. UK Pan Macmillan 2024 , Translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood. Originally published in Japan as "Kamogawashokudo Okawari". The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the second book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and follows on from The Kamogawa Food Detectives. Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner. Running this unique establishment are a father-daughter duo who serve more than just mouth-watering feasts. The pair have reinvented themselves as 'food detectives', offering a service that goes beyond traditional dining. Through their culinary sleuthing, they reconstruct beloved dishes from the memories of their customers, creating a connection to cherished moments from the past. Among those who seek an appointment include: a one-hit wonder pop star, finally ready to leave Tokyo and give up on her singing career, wants to try the tempura that she ate to celebrate her only successful record and a budding Olympic swimmer who desires the bento lunch box that his estranged father used to make him. The Kamogawa Diner doesn't just serve meals – it revives lost recipes and rekindles forgotten memories. It's a doorway to the past through the miracle of delicious food. 9781035009633

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RECORD OF NIGHT TOO BRIEF

By Hiromi Kawakami. London Pushkin Press 2024 , “Evocative… Astonishing, strange, and wonderful” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A trio of surreal, dazzlingly imaginative short stories set in contemporary Japan that explore desire and loss, talking animals, and odd disappearances Sensual, yearning, and filled with the tricks of memory and grief, from the celebrated author of Strange Weather in Tokyo In these 3 haunting and lyrical stories, young women experience loss, loneliness, and extraordinary romance. The nightingale sang again. The plates on the table gleamed, and the food, in all its ceaseless variety, breathed, glossy and bright. The night had only just begun. A woman travels through an unending night with a porcelain girlfriend, monsters of the mist and a monkey who shows no mercy. A sister mourns her brother, who is visible only to her, while her family welcome his would-be wife into their home. One morning, a woman treads on a snake in the park. She comes home that evening and realises the snake has moved into her house and is saying she is her mother… Winner of the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary award. reveal a highly surreal, meticulously crafted exploration of the many facets of desire, loss and fantasy. Part of Pushkin’s Japanese Novella series: stylishly designed editions of the best of contemporary Japanese fiction, featuring celebrated, prize-winning authors including Mieko Kawakami, Hideo Furukawa, Kaori Fujino and Natsuko Imamura. 9781805331407

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SLOW BOAT : Slow Baot To China RMX

By Furukawa, Hideo. London Pushkin Press 2024 , A startling novella from the heir to Haruki Murakami and Gabriel García Márquez Trapped in Tokyo, left behind by a series of girlfriends, the narrator of Slow Boat sizes up his situation. His missteps, his violent rebellions, his tiny victories. But he is not a passive loser, content to accept all that fate hands him. He attempts one last escape to the edges of the city, holding the only safety net he has known – his dreams. Filled with lyrical longing and humour, Slow Boat captures perfectly the urge to get away and the necessity of finding yourself in a world which might never even be looking for you. 9781805331414

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BEST JAPANESE SHORT STORIES : Work by 14 Modern Masters: Kawabata, Akutagawa and More

By NIL. Tokyo Tuttle 2024 9780804858359

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CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS

By Haruki Murakami. London Harvill Secker 2023 , Translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel. 'Truth is not found in fixed stillness, but in ceaseless change/movement. Isn't this the quintessential core of what stories are all about?' Haruki Murakami, from the afterword to The City and Its Uncertain Walls The long-awaited new novel from Haruki Murakami, his first in six years, revisits a Town his readers will remember, a place where a Dream Reader reviews dreams and where our shadows become untethered from our selves. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for these strange post-pandemic times, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a singular and towering achievement by one of modern literature’s most important writers. 9781787304475

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HOTEL LUCKY SEVEN : Novel (The Assassins Series)

By Isaka, Kotaro . Dublin Harvill Secker 2024 , Bullet Train’s hapless underworld operative and his handler are back in this thrilling new novel from internationally bestselling author Kotaro Isaka In Bullet Train, underworld operative Ladybug was tasked by his handler Maria with retrieving a suitcase from a high-speed train in Japan. The job did not go according to plan, to the delight of millions of readers and movie fans around the world. Will the unluckiest assassin in the world will find things easier this time around? All he has to do is deliver a painting to a hotel guest, a portrait made by his daughter. Easy enough, except when Ladybug makes the delivery, he realizes that the guest is clearly not the guy in the painting. Then he attacks Ladybug, they fight, and the guest ends up dead. How can such simple jobs always go wrong? Internationally acclaimed author Kotaro Isaka spins another outrageously entertaining thriller in Hotel Lucky Seven. This is a stylish, masterful book, again featuring outsized characters, gripping action, plot twists, and surprise identities. Part 1 3 Assassins Part 2 Bullet Train Part 3 The Mantis Part 4 Hotel Lucky Seven 9781787304758

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THIRD LOVE

By Hiromi Kawakami. London Granta 2020 , Translated from Japanese by Ted Goossen. Having married her childhood sweetheart, Riko now finds herself trapped in a relationship that has been soured by infidelity. One day, she runs into her old friend Mr Takaoka, who offers friendship, love, and an unusual escape: he teaches her the trick of living inside her dreams. Now, each night, she sinks into another life: first as a high-ranking courtesan in the 17th century, and then as a serving lady to a princess in the late Middle Ages. As she experiences desire and heartbreak in the past, so Riko comes to reconsider her life as a 21st-century woman - as a wife, as a mother, and as a lover - and to ask herself: after loving her husband and loving Mr Takaoka, is she is ready for her third great love? 9781783788903

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CAT WHO SAVED THE LIBRARY

By Natsukawa, Sosuke. London Picador 2025 , The must-have sequel to Sosuke Natsukawa's bestselling The Cat Who Saved Books – an uplifting tale from Japan about a talking cat and the power of books to make a difference in the world. Thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki loves reading. The local library has become a home from home and books are her friends. When Nanami notices that some of her favourite books are disappearing from the library shelves, she becomes suspicious of a man in a grey suit whose furtive behaviour doesn’t feel right. Should she follow him to see what he’s up to? It wouldn’t be dangerous . . . would it? When a smart-talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and issues a grave warning about how dangerous that would be, they decide to team up and investigate. Where have all the books gone? And can the unlikely duo overcome the challenges ahead? Warm, wonderful and wise, The Cat Who Saved the Library is a powerful lesson never to underestimate the value of great literature, and a reminder to always think for ourselves. 9781035050611

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SPUTNIK SWEETHEART

By Murakami,Haruki. UK Vintage - Penguin 2026 , A mystery story about love, the cosmos and other fictional universes. Sumire is in love with a woman seventeen years her senior. Miu is glamorous and successful. Sumire is an aspiring writer who dresses in an oversized second-hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Kerouac novel. Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to her best friend K about the big questions in life: what is sexual desire, and should she ever tell Miu how she feels for her? Meanwhile K wonders whether he should confess his own unrequited love for Sumire. 9781529982336

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TWILIGHT IN MUSASHINO

By Matsumoto, Seicho. UK Penguin 2026 , Musashino, 1959. A young Japanese flight attendant is found strangled on the icy banks of the river. The police suspect foul play – but the deeper they dig, the more they collide with a wall of silence. At the centre of it all stands a foreign priest and the Guglielmo Church, a charitable Christian mission. The dead woman’s connection to the church is undeniable. But what begins as a routine investigation quickly turns into something far more treacherous, entangling together narcotics, post-war relief schemes and the delicate web of international diplomacy. As the story moves from back alleys to diplomatic sanctuaries, following the twists and turns of Detective Fujisawa's investigation, Seicho Matsumoto masterfully constructs a slow-burning procedural where truth is clear but justice is not permitted. 9780241688748

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HOOKED

By Asako Yuzuki. London 4th Estate 2026 , Yuzuki has become the poster girl of a British boom for Japanese fiction THE TIMES 'Tender and thrilling its Yuzuki at her best ELLE 'Safe to say, were already hooked OPRAH DAILY A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN GUARDIAN, VOGUE, ELLE, STYLIST, BBC, RADIO TIMES, OPRAH DAILY, THE NIGHTLY and the DAILY EXPRESS. The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling sensation Butter. Eriko really wouldnt mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging … Erikos life appears perfect devoted parents, spotless apartment and a job in the seafood division of one of Japans largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness. Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Sh?ko. Sh?kos posts about eating convenience store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewifes manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Sh?ko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Sh?ko is at first charmed by her new companion. But as Erikos obsession with Sh?ko deepens, her increasingly possessive behaviour starts to raise suspicion. As Erikos carefully laid plans begin to unravel, how far will she go to hold on to the best friend that shes ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a thrilling and unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession. A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan, Hooked brings together all the ingredients for which Asako Yuzuki is so adored. 'Dark, spiny and slippery, this haunting tale of loneliness and longing in the modern age will leave you gasping TOBI COVENTRY, author of Hes the Devil 9780008815417

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