by Yōko Tawada
First published 2022
Hiruko travels the Baltic Sea aboard a mail boat, still hunting for her disappeared country, the Land of Sushi. Her companions include Knut the Danish linguist, Akash who is transitioning gender, Nanook the Greenlandic former sushi chef, Nora the environmentally conscious German woman who loves Nanook, and Susanoo, an ex-sushi chef who feels responsible for the group's welfare. None of them can recall why their original plan to sail toward Cape Town and India changed so drastically. Strange passengers join them on deck: dead writers like Witold Gombrowicz and Hella Wuolijoki materialize alongside figures from literature and mythology. As doubts grow about whether Hiruko and Susanoo's homeland ever existed, Susanoo encounters a mythical princess destined to become his bride. Hiruko makes a startling declaration to her friends: she will transform into a house where they can all find shelter. The trilogy reaches its conclusion, but their voyage shows no signs of ending.
Genres: literary-fiction, fantasy, contemporary, magical-realism
Vibes: dreamlike, introspective, lyrical, philosophical, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, magical-transformation, quest-narrative, unreliable-reality
Setting: Baltic Sea, Cape Town, India, Greenland, Denmark, Germany, Land of Sushi
Period: contemporary
224 pages · Paperback · New Directions