First published 2018
Natsuki believes she's been contacted by aliens, destined to leave her ordinary Japanese life behind. But as she transforms with a magic compact and wand, the adults in her life refuse to see her powers. Convinced the world is a bizarre "factory" and humans are just animals, Natsuki and her husband abandon society to live off-grid. When her childhood friend Yū joins their unconventional household, their precarious utopia is put to the test. Is Natsuki truly an extraterrestrial, or just a troubled young woman searching for belonging?
Genres: contemporary, aliens, 21st-century, japanese-literature
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Japan
Period: Contemporary
247 pages · Paperback · Granta Books
Content warnings: mental-illness