When the Museum is Closed

Emi Yagi, Yuki Tejima

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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Japanese

Harvill
08 July 2025

Art & Architecture; Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fantasy; Fiction in translation

A quirky, joyful queer love story about a lonely museum worker who falls in love with a statue of Venus, from the author of cult hit Diary of a Void

Rika Horauchi's new part-time job is to converse with a statue of Venus - in Latin - every Monday, when the museum is closed.

Initially reluctant, Rika starts to enjoy her strange new job. Recommended by her old university professor for her exemplary language skills, Rika leads an otherwise unassuming life, working the rest of the week in a frozen-food warehouse. As Venus comes to life in the quiet of the museum, they talk about everything. Venus opens up new worlds for Rika, both intellectually and emotionally. They soon fall in love. But when the museum's curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do?

When the Museum is Closed is by turns charming, funny and surprising, a surreal take on our most real emotions and concerns- love, loneliness, freedom, perceptions of beauty and how women are seen in society. A joyful queer love story, this fresh and original new novel confirms Emi Yagi as one of the most exciting Japanese writers published in English today.

By: Emi Yagi
Translated by: Yuki Tejima
Imprint: Harvill
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 215mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 177g
ISBN: 9781787304642
ISBN 10: 1787304647
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 08 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Emi Yagi is an editor at a women's magazine in Japan. She was born in 1988 and lives in Tokyo. Diary of a Void is her first novel; it won the Osamu Dazai Prize, awarded annually to the best debut work of fiction.

Reviews for When the Museum is Closed

I was captivated by Rika's strange, frozen world, filled with movement and passion - a perfectly contained and luminous story that reveals a whole world of desire and possibility, right at the heart of loneliness -- Rosie Price, author of THE ORANGE ROOM