New Fiction

Description

An American woman in Tokyo is planning to leave her lover, when a tragedy strikes the nation. In a lounge in the Ginza district, an expat pianist wonders if a room in the back helps desperate men start new lives. A Japanese woman in San Francisco is searching for a consulate staff member, who has vanished with a suitcase full of passports.

Set in Tokyo and San Francisco, these stories are colorful postcards reporting from cultural intersections. A medley of voices and takes on the expat experience, these intimately detailed portraits show American and Japanese characters enchanted with intercultural love, while facing the history they share.

A long-time resident of Tokyo, Gattig writes with a light, witty touch and supple, poetic prose, showing how we need others to understand ourselves in the world.

Praise for “A Good Place to Leave a Lover”

“These stories are a joy to read. I loved the prose full of poetry and the insights on the two cultures—the ways in which they clash and learn from each other—as well as the humor that sparkles through.”

Minae Mizumura, author of Inheritance from Mother

“I savored this beautiful book. The stories are doors into nuanced worlds, and they will linger in your mind long after you turn the last page. A Good Place to Leave a Lover is sensual, subversive, and masterful.”

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, author of Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds

“A tour de force. Like pearls on a string of revelations, these stories show values and grievance on both the American and the Japanese side.”

Jim Nelson, author of Bridge Daughter

“These rich, entertaining stories show the complexities of cross-cultural romance, taking the reader on inter-lapping waves across the Pacific. Filled with longing and cultural searching, the writing stops you in your tracks with sharp, unexpected insights.”

Damian Flanagan, author of Yukio Mishima

“Moving and deep – and filled with surprise. The world and the characters are absorbing, as well as the beautiful writing.”

Jeff Raz, author of The Snow Clown