First published 2024
Asa approaches her classmate with a simple biscuit. What starts as an ordinary gesture at school transforms into something far stranger. In another story, Nami watches her classmates throw acorns in the playground and works to stay clear of their game. The simple act of avoidance pulls her into unexpected territory. Happy lies on her sofa and decides this is all she wants to do. Her commitment to stillness leads somewhere she never anticipated. These three stories from Natsuko Imamura begin in familiar settings with recognizable actions. A girl offers food. Another girl dodges a playground game. A woman chooses rest over activity. Each situation feels normal at first. Then reality shifts. The ordinary becomes strange. The familiar turns foreign. By each story's end, you have traveled from the everyday world into something entirely different.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: familiar-turns-foreign, ordinary-becomes-strange
191 pages · Paperback · Faber & Faber