It¡¯s been 12 years since an English translation of novelist Natsuo Kirino¡¯s work was published, and ¡°Swallows,¡± out this month in translation by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda, is well worth the wait.
Originally published as a serialized novel from 2019 to 2021, and then as a book in 2022, ¡°Swallows¡± won two Japanese literary awards: the Mainichi Art Award in 2022 and the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Award in 2023.
Kirino already established a reputation as a shrewd gadfly to the patriarchy with the 2004 translation into English of ¡°°¿³Ü³Ù,¡± a runaway, international bestseller about marginalized women working the graveyard shift at a bento factory who unite to cover up a murder. She followed that success with the popular thrillers ¡°³Ò°ù´Ç³Ù±ð²õ±ç³Ü±ð¡± and ¡°Real World,¡± probing issues like prostitution and gender expectations, adolescent pressures and conformity, all while turning a tight lens on the marginalized corners of society.
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