Breasts and Eggs

'Mieko Kawakami's first full-scale novel to be translated from Japanese into English reveals what a Catherine wheel of talent she is, how unplaceable and unique. How forceful' John Freeman, Literary Hub

'Mieko Kawakami lobbed a literary grenade into the fusty, male-dominated world of Japanese fiction with Breasts and Eggs' The Economist

'I can never forget the sense of pure astonishment I felt when I first read Mieko Kawakami's novella Breasts and Eggs . . . Kawakami is always ceaselessly growing and evolving' Haruki Murakami, author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

'One of Japan's brightest stars is set to explode across the global skies of literature' Japan Times

In Tokyo we meet three women: thirty-year-old Natsu, her older sister Makiko, and Makiko's teenage daughter Midoriko. Makiko, an ageing hostess, has travelled to Tokyo in search of affordable breast enhancement surgery. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with her changing body. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to grapple with their own fears and anxieties.

On another hot summer's day ten years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her purpose in life as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.

Breasts and Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan, recounting the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own.