Island of the Bird-Folk: A Novel
Jan 2027 · Catapult
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224
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infoThis book will become available on January 19, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
From the author of A Woman of Pleasure comes a powerful new novel that sharply criticizes our modern attachment to our possessions, and specifically our land, from the perspective of two singular women who refuse to leave their home
A small island near the Japanese border which once had a thriving fishing industry is now home to just two old women: 92-year-old Io and 88-year-old Someko. As we see them grow their vegetables and catch their fish, it seems at first that they are self-sufficient, but the cost of deliveries from the boat supplying them with propane and other necessities is 200,000 dollars a year. Still, the village officer wants them to keep on living there to prevent border violations.
The last surviving women are in fact saving Japan from invasion by a neighboring country. Occasionally Io’s daughter Umiko visits the island, trying to convince them to move to the mainland for their safety. Yet the two women pay no attention. They have a bigger mission than their safety—to become birds. They believe that their husbands and brother who failed to return from the ocean have morphed into birds, and they are preparing to meet the same fate. A novel about the rigors of time and connection to place buoyed by a deep love and attachment to family.
A small island near the Japanese border which once had a thriving fishing industry is now home to just two old women: 92-year-old Io and 88-year-old Someko. As we see them grow their vegetables and catch their fish, it seems at first that they are self-sufficient, but the cost of deliveries from the boat supplying them with propane and other necessities is 200,000 dollars a year. Still, the village officer wants them to keep on living there to prevent border violations.
The last surviving women are in fact saving Japan from invasion by a neighboring country. Occasionally Io’s daughter Umiko visits the island, trying to convince them to move to the mainland for their safety. Yet the two women pay no attention. They have a bigger mission than their safety—to become birds. They believe that their husbands and brother who failed to return from the ocean have morphed into birds, and they are preparing to meet the same fate. A novel about the rigors of time and connection to place buoyed by a deep love and attachment to family.
From the author of A Woman of Pleasure comes a powerful new novel that sharply criticizes our modern attachment to our possessions, and specifically our land, from the perspective of two singular women who refuse to leave their home
A small island near the Japanese border which once had a thrivi...
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About the author
KIYOKO MURATA is the author of A Woman of Pleasure. She has been awarded many of Japan’s major literary awards including the Akutagawa Prize in 1987. [Hizoku] won the Tanizaki Prize in 2019. She lives in Fukuoka, Japan.
Translator:
JULIET WINTERS CARPENTER was a distinguished translator of Japanese literature whose work received numerous awards. She lived in Japan for over forty-five years, then on Whidbey Island in Washington State. She died in 2026.
Translator:
JULIET WINTERS CARPENTER was a distinguished translator of Japanese literature whose work received numerous awards. She lived in Japan for over forty-five years, then on Whidbey Island in Washington State. She died in 2026.
KIYOKO MURATA is the author of A Woman of Pleasure. She has been awarded many of Japan’s major literary awards including the Akutagawa Prize in 1987. [Hizoku] won the Tanizaki Prize in 2019. She lives in Fukuoka, Japan.
Translator:
JULIET WINTERS CARPENTER was a distinguished translator of Japan...
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