Tomoka Shibasaki - Spring Garden

‘One wild ride: a swirling helix of a family saga… a new writer as toe-curling as early Roth, as roomy as Franzen and as caustic as Houellebecq’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A five-star satire on literary vanity… a wonderful, surprising novel’ Metro

‘Terrific… a truly clever, rather wonderful book that both plays with and defies genre’ Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

‘Beautifully evocative… a must-read novel’ Daily Mail

‘Wonderfully knotty… a very grown-up fantasy masquerading as quirky fable. Unexpected, thrilling and absurd’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Beautiful and supremely touching… an unbearably poignant description of a world that no longer exists’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Small and perfectly formed… reaching its end leaves the reader desirous to start all over again’ Independent

‘If Haruki is The Beatles of Japanese literature, Ryu is its Rolling Stones ’ David Pilling

‘A funny, moving and occasionally bizarre exploration of life’s upheavals and reversals’ Financial Times

‘As gruesome as it is gripping… the writing is extraordinarily vivid… Highly recommended’ Independent

‘Mesmerising… Seksik’s portrait of Zweig’s final months is dignified and tender’ Financial Times

‘Delicious and intriguing’ Daily Telegraph

‘A monumental, phenomenal book’ De Morgen

‘A master of the historical novel’ Guardian

TOMOKA SHIBASAKIwas born in 1973 in Osaka and began writing fiction while still in high school. After graduating from university, she took an office job but continued writing, and was shortlisted for the Bungei Prize in 1998. Her first book, A Day on the Planet , was turned into a hit movie, and Spring Garden won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2014.

POLLY BARTONgrew up in London and read philosophy at university. Since winning the inaugural JLPP International Translation Competition in 2012, she has translated a variety of fiction by authors including Nao-cola Yamazaki, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Misumi Kubo and Aoko Matsuda, as well as non-fiction and art-related texts. She lives in Osaka.

Series Editors: David Karashima and Michael Emmerich

Translation Editor: Elmer Luke

Pushkin Press

71–75 Shelton Street

London, WC2H 9JQ

HARU NO NIWA by SHIBASAKI Tomoka

Copyright © 2014 by SHIBASAKI Tomoka

All rights reserved.

Original Japanese edition published by Bungeishunju Ltd., Japan

English translation rights in the UK reserved by Pushkin Press, under the licence granted by SHIBASAKI Tomoka, Japan, arranged with Bungeishunju Ltd., Japan through Japan UNI Agency, Japan.

English language translation © Polly Barton 2017

First published by Pushkin Press in 2017

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the British Centre for Literary Translation and the Nippon Foundation

ISBN 9781782272731

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Pushkin Press

www.pushkinpress.com