Sputnik Sweetheart

Key Features

• Murakami's entire backlist will be rejacketed in a new iconic, witty and collectable series style to coincide with the publication of 1Q84 in Vintage
• Murakami is an international phenomenon: beloved in his native Japan, he is a bestseller the world over - his books are published in 45 territories, in 42 languages

About the Book: Sputnik Sweetheart

A mystery story about love, the cosmos and other fictional universes

Sumire is in love with a woman seventeen years her senior. But whereas Miu is glamorous and successful, Sumire is an aspiring writer who dresses in an oversized second-hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Kerouac novel.

Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to her best friend K about the big questions in life: what is sexual desire, and should she ever tell Miu how she feels for her? Meanwhile K wonders whether he should confess his own unrequited love for Sumire.

Then, a desperate Miu calls from a small Greek island: Sumire has mysteriously vanished...

About the Author: Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. He is the author of many novels as well as short stories and non-fiction. His works include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, After Dark and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. His work has been translated into more than forty languages, and the most recent of his many international honours is the Jerusalem Prize, whose previous recipients include J.M. Coetzee, Milan Kundera, and V.S. Naipaul.

Reviews

'Sputnik Sweetheart has touched me deeper and pushed me further than anything I've read in a long time' - Julie Myerson, Guardian

'How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration' - Independent on Sunday

'A beautiful novel, as light as a feather, and yet enduringly sad ... a captivating book from one of the world's most interesting authors' - Sunday Herald

'Murakami has been compared to everyone from Raymond Carver to Raymond Chandler - which should tell you only one thing: he's unique' - Independent