Author: Aono, Kei

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 4 September 2025 by Quercus Publishing (MacLehose Press) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 320 pages, N/A
216 x 135 |

Can two very different women put aside their differences to save the bookstore they love? The Japanese bestseller that kicked off a seven-book series – adapted for TV and 200,000 copies soldRiko Nishioka is assistant manager of the flagship Pegasus bookstore in Kichijoji. After working her way up from a part-time position, she is now, aged forty, a respected figure in the Japanese publishing industry. But she has a nemesis.

Aki Kitamura, twenty-seven, has waltzed in as a full-time employee thanks to her family connections. A free spirit with a rebellious streak and a silver spoon in her mouth, she’s anything but a team player.

The two are always clashing – both at work and over their personal lives. But when Riko is given notice that the store will be closing in six months’ time, they face a stark choice.

Can they put their petty enmities aside to boost sales and save their livelihoods or will they go down fighting . . . each other?Translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell