Swallows

Vibrating with the injustices of class and gender, tradition and power, Swallows is an acerbic, witty vision of contemporary Japan by Natsuo Kirino, acclaimed author of the smash hit Out

Natsuo Kirino's novels bring us into direct contact with human life. Her fearless pen forces us to confront the ugliness, intensity and depth of our own desires, to the point that we cannot look away. But just as those desires reach a fever-pitch, she restores our faith in humanity, in a way that only Kirino can. The relentless beauty of her stories leaves me breathless every time

Frank, tender, expansive, and radically embodied, Swallows centres the commodification of female fertility to explore how people live, love, work, dream and die today. Luminous

A timely and engrossing drama about desire, precarity, and the uses of a woman's body. Kirino's psychologically compelling and sharp-witted storytelling draws us into her characters' lives, leaving us to answer: do our bodies have a price and who gets to decide?

A masterful feat of storytelling as well as a biting critique of gender, patrimony and class. . . A writer in effortless command of her craft, Kirino brilliantly upends our expectations at every twist and turn. Just when you thought things could not get any more complicated, she deftly ups the ante. The resulting tension builds to a startling ending that both disturbs and delights

Natsuo Kirino teases out the question "who does a child belong to?" - while confronting the gender assumptions and economic and power imbalances of contemporary Japanese society . . . Kirino somersaults her way to a suspenseful conclusion in a dazzling and troubling feminist page turner

Swallows is a compelling read, with characters that continually take you by surprise and it's perceptive about class, money and gender politics

Praise for Natsuo Kirino: 'A taut, disturbing and timeless tale, filled with rage and pathos

Japan's writer of the moment

Daring and disturbing . . . [Kirino is] prepared to push the human limits of this world . . . Remarkable

Lyrical, with an impelling storyline that demands attention

Natsuo Kirino is one of Japan's most highly decorated authors - winner of both the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction for Out and the Naoki Prize for Soft Cheeks . In 2015 she was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon for her literary achievements. Swallows is her fifth novel to be translated into English, and a TV adaptation of aired in summer 2024 to great critical acclaim.
kirino-natsuo.com

Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda is a literary translator. Her work includes Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Kappa (New Directions, 2023), Yuko Tsushima's Wildcat Dome (FSG, 2025) and Yoko Tawada's Exophony (New Directions, 2025). Born in Tokyo, raised in Texas, she currently lives in New York City.
lhkuroda.com | @lhkuroda