Revenge

Yoko Ogawa

A series of lyrical and beautiful interlinked stories that are simply a joy to read. The skill with which the stories are interwoven, so that preceding stories become fiction in the later stories creates a beauty that is truly enthralling. The tranquillity of the writing adds to the disturbing nature of the stories. This is a book not to be missed.

Extract

Many more hand-shaped carrots appeared in the days that followed. Even after everyone in the building had received one, there were several left over. Some were long and slender like the hands of a pianist; others were sturdier, like those of a lumberjack. There were all sorts; swollen hands, hairy hands, blotchy hands ....

Mrs j harvested them with great care, digging around each carrot and pulling gently on the top to extract it, as though the loss of a single finger would have been a great tragedy. Then she would brush away the soil and hold the carrot up in the sunlight to admire it.

Parallels