Hiromi Kawakami returns with psychological novel about woman haunted by her husband’s unexplained disappearance and a spectral presence in a Japanese coastal town.
Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami returns with her dreamlike and surrealist writing in Manazuru, a psychological novel arriving in Brazil on March 9, 2026, published by Estação Liberdade with translation by Jaqueline Nabeta. The work dives into the depths of memory, trauma, and the search for belonging through the story of Kei, a middle-aged woman living suspended between everyday life and the inexplicable.
For years, Kei has carried the weight of her husband’s mysterious disappearance. Living in Tokyo with her mother and daughter, she balances a routine of work and family care with constant thoughts about her former companion’s whereabouts. In a moment of escape, she boards a train and, as if drawn by an invisible force, ends up getting off in Manazuru, a coastal town where the sensation of being followed by something intensifies.
The encounter with the spectral
In the seaside town, defining what follows her becomes a challenge for Kei, who gradually becomes intimate with this presence that seems to inhabit the spiritual world. Between dialogues that sometimes appear to occur only within her own mind, she finds herself on a journey whose goal is to exit her inner labyrinth, make peace with ghosts from the past, and reaffirm the essence of her being.
Kawakami explores the Japanese concept of kamikakushi (神隠し), a “mysterious disappearance” of divine cause, as suggested by the ideogram 神 in its composition. The author reminds us that the interpretation of what sounds supernatural is far more idiosyncratic than common sense, masterfully interweaving the real and the dreamlike.
A patchwork narrative
The writer exercises the act of writing as if stitching a patchwork quilt, in which the first-person narrative voice is constantly interrupted and mended by intrusive thoughts from the main character herself. Through a poetic style that embraces the surreal, a silent tenderness emerges from these dark moments.
Manazuru is a meditation on memory, a deep and precisely delineated exploration of relationships between lovers and family members.
The novel alternates everyday scenes with dreamlike and surrealist passages, creating a unique atmosphere that marks Kawakami’s return to the Brazilian literary scene.
Details
Title: Manazuru
Author: Hiromi Kawakami
Translator: Jaqueline Nabeta
ISBN: 978-85-7448-329-0
Format: 14 x 21 cm | 240 pages
Price: R$ 76.00
Release date: March 9, 2026
Publisher: Estação Liberdade
More information: https://www.estacaoliberdade.com.br/manazuru
Photo: Press Release
