Maki Kashimada's is a multi-award winning novelist well known for her avant-garde style. She was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Touring the Land of the Dead. She has been a follower of the Japanese Orthodox Church since high school and is married to a member of its clergy. Haydn Trowell is a translator from Japanese with a background in Literary Studies and Creative Writing. He lives in Australia.
The tense disquiet that hangs over the work has a unique charm. This is a world that only Kashimada could have depicted. -- Yoko Ogawa While difficult to pin down, this novel is particularly compelling. This sense of sincerity comes, I think, not from the strength of the emotions put into the novel, but rather from the author's writing style, and is a credit to her craftsmanship. -- Hiromi Kawakami Kashimada is a writer who brings something truly rich.