The Night of Baba Yaga
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jul 2, 2024
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- $14.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A fierce mixed-race fighter develops a powerful attachment to the yakuza princess she’s been forced to protect in this explosive queer thriller: Kill Bill meets The Handmaiden meets Thelma and Louise
Tokyo, 1979. Yoriko Shindo, a workhorse of a woman who has been an outcast her whole life, is kidnapped and dragged to the lair of the Naiki-kai, a branch of the yakuza. After she savagely fends off a throng of henchmen in an attempt to escape, Shindo is only permitted to live under one condition: that she will become the bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, the obsessively sheltered daughter of the gang’s boss.
Eighteen-year-old Shoko, pretty and silent as a doll, has no friends, wears strangely old-fashioned clothes, and is completely naive in all matters of life. Originally disdaining her ward, Shindo soon finds herself far more invested in Shoko’s well-being than she ever expected. But every man around them is bloodthirsty and trigger-happy. Shindo doubts she and Shoko will survive much longer if nothing changes. Could there ever be a different life for two women like them?
Akira Otani’s English-language debut moves boldly through time and across gender, stretching the definitions and possibilities of each concept. Rendered in a gorgeous translation by International Booker–shortlisted Sam Bett, this lean, mean thriller proves that bonds forged in fire are unbreakable.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A young woman falls in love with a crime boss's daughter in Otani's gripping English-language debut. In 1979 Tokyo, 22-year-old Yoriko Shindo is kidnapped by yakuza boss Genzo Naiki. He offers her a deal: if she agrees to be the bodyguard and chauffeur for his teenage daughter, Shoko, he'll let her live. The sheltered and aloof Shokoinitially shows no interest in Shindo, but they slowly develop a connection as the only women in their testosterone-fueled world. When a smitten Shindo learns more about Shoko's troubles—her mother's mysterious disappearance, her upcoming arranged marriage to a sadistic yakuza enforcer—she resolves to help set the teenager free. In a Thelma & Louise–style act of desperation, the pair goes on the run, both knowing full well that they won't be able to evade Naiki and his henchmen for long. Otani's artful, staccato sentences, deftly translated by Bett, draw readers in, and an unexpected time-jump midway through the novel gives it an ingenious jolt of life. This tender yet furious crime saga will leave readers hungry for more from Otani soon.
