Sisters in Yellow

Kawakami (All the Lovers in the Night) unfurls a remarkable noir-tinged tale of female desperation. The story opens in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when narrator Hana, a single 40-year-old who works at a Tokyo deli counter, stumbles upon a web article about a woman named Kimiko, who once played a pivotal role in her life. Now 60, Kimiko has been accused of imprisoning a much younger woman in her home and assaulting her for 15 months. From there, the novel jumps back 25 years, to when a 15-year-old Hana is living with her often absent mother, Ai, a bar hostess in suburban Tokyo who’s prone to disappearing with boyfriends. Kimiko, an old drinking pal of Ai’s, steps in to fill the void while Ai is gone for a month, stocking the fridge with Hana’s favorite foods and charming her peers. Two years later, when they meet again, Hana leaves home and moves in with Kimiko, and together they open a small bar, Lemon. But Kimiko’s past and ties to Tokyo’s criminal underworld soon threaten Hana’s fragile stability. As the story hurtles toward chilling revelations in the present, Kawakami masterfully builds tension through her portrayal of Hana’s struggle to claw her way upward in a society where, as a runaway minor with no bank account or ID, she is nearly invisible. The author scales new heights with this gripping and propulsive novel. Agent: Amelia Atlas, CAA. (Mar.)