Fault Lines

Combining the incisive intimacy of Sally Rooney with the sharp wit of Helen Fielding,a compulsively readable and astonishingly relatable debut novel about marriagemotherhoodloveself and the vibrantsurprising city that is modern Tokyo Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husbandtwo adorable childrenand a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It’s everything a woman could wantyet sometimes she wonders whether she would rather throw herself off the high-rise balcony than spend another evening not talking to her husband and hanging up laundry. Thenone rainy nightshe meets Kiyoshia successful restaurateur. In himshe rediscovers freedomfriendshipand the neonelectric pulse of the city she has always loved. But the further she falls into their relationshipthe clearer it becomes that she is living two lives–and in the endwe can choose only one. Funnyprovocativeand startlingly honestFault Lines is for anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and askedwho am I and how did I get here? A bittersweet love story and a piercing portrait of female identityit introduces Emily Itami as a debut novelist with astounding resonance and wit.