Mysterious Setting

A madcap, darkly comic novel about the strange fate of a tone-deaf girl who just wants to sing, from a Japanese literary star

“Abe's superpower is to transform everything he touches into exciting literature.” — Kotaru Isaka, author of Bullet Train

Shiori knows at heart that she's a troubadour. She may be completely tone-deaf, but she won't let that stop her living a life dedicated to music. Even when her dominant older sister, Nozomi, forces Shiori to accept that her wild singing provokes only revulsion, she decides to forge a career as a lyricist instead.

At eighteen, she moves to Tokyo to pursue her dream. Isolated and struggling in this unfamiliar city, Shiori seeks connection online, where her trusting outlook leaves her vulnerable to exploitation - with potentially explosive results.

Shot through with dark irony and a playful sense of the absurd, Mysterious Setting is a propulsive and gloriously strange novel from one of Japan's most distinctive contemporary writers.

This surreal, twisty novel presents a provocative portrayal of sibling competition and the exploitation of social outcasts.

Translated by Michael Emmerich