Record of a Night Too Brief

A trio of surreal, dazzlingly imaginative short stories set in contemporary Japan that explore desire and loss, talking animals, and odd disappearances

The nightingale sang again. The plates on the table gleamed, and the food, in all its ceaseless variety, breathed, glossy and bright. The night had only just begun.

A woman travels through an unending night with a porcelain girlfriend, monsters of the mist and a monkey who shows no mercy. A sister mourns her brother, who is visible only to her, while her family welcome his would-be wife into their home. One morning, a woman treads on a snake in the park. She comes home that evening and realises the snake has moved into her house and is saying she is her mother…

Winner of the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary award, the 3 stories in this collection:

* Record of a Night Too Brief
* Missing
* A Snake Stepped On

reveal a highly surreal, meticulously crafted exploration of the many facets of desire, loss and fantasy.