all the lovers in the night

All The Lovers In The Night

From literary sensation and International Booker Prize-shortlisted author Mieko Kawakami, the bestelling author of Breasts and Eggs and Heaven comes All the Lovers in the Night, an extraordinary, deeply moving and insightful story set in contemporary Tokyo.

'A brief, compelling study of alienation and friendship; I binge-read it in one sitting.' - Rebecca F Kuang, author of Babel

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance proofreader in her thirties. Living alone in an overwhelming city and unable to form meaningful relationships, she has little contact with anyone other than her colleague, Hijiri. But a chance encounter with a man named Mitsutsuka awakens something new in her. Through their weekly meetings, Fuyuko starts to see the world in a different light and still, painful memories from her past begin to resurface.

As Fuyuko realizes she exists in a small world of her own making she begins to push at her own boundaries. But will she find the strength to bring down the walls that surround her?

Poetic, modern and shocking, this is an unforgettable novel from Japan’s most exciting writer.

‘Mieko Kawakami is a genius’ - Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times

All the Lovers in the Night is translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.

The plot

The novel follows Fuyuko Irie, a freelance proofreader in her mid-thirties who lives alone, over the course of about eight months. She starts by describing a life defined by careful routine, devotion to work, and solitude.

As she begins to develop friendships with a complicated colleague and a gentle, unusual man, Irie's stable veneer cracks. The story follows Irie's stream of consciousness from the present to memories and dreams. While her character is defined by her difficulty speaking to others and sense of embarrassment, her narration is as if she is speaking to herself: unflinchingly sensuous and intimate, unconcerned with making herself appear attractive.

The months in the novel chronicle her dissociation, coming to terms with a secret rape, drinking, and an attempt to understand what others can and cannot see in a person.