An unnamed narrator visits her friend, the girl who is getting married, in her apartment on the fifth floor of an anonymous building. With each flight of steps, the narrator recalls different memories of the time they have spent together their tim...
"This was an amazing read. A troupe of women are sent in from another world in order to help relieve the angst of the people in this world." Hiroko Kitamura, Hon no zasshi sha "Turning one's back on despair and instead channelling all one's energy into living as one's true self is what gives one the strength to take on spectral form. This is a call to power to live with sufficient conviction to become ghosts." Akiko Ohtake, Asahi shimbun "An enjoyable and satisfying read, coming out of a sense of discomfort and unease around gender inequality. This is a short story collection where classic works from rakugo and kabuki are developed in the author's unique style." Asayo Takii, Nami
Matsuda Aoko is the author of four collections of short stories and four essay collections. Her debut, Stackable, was nominated for Mishima Yukio Prize in 2013. Her stories have appeared in Granta, Guernica and Monkey Business, and her novella The Girl Who Is Getting Married (tr Angus Turvill) was published by Strangers Press in 2016. Her short story The Woman Dies (tr Polly Barton) was nominated for Shirley Jackson Award in 2019. Matsuda is based in Tokyo. Polly Barton is a translator of Japanese literature and non-fiction, currently based in Bristol. She has translated short stories for Words Without Borders, The White Review and GRANTA. Her translations include Friendship for Grown-ups by Naocola Yamazaki and Mikumari by Misumi Kubo (Strangers Press), and Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki (Pushkin Press). She is the winner of the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize for Fifty Sounds.