Swallows - Natsuo Kirino

Swallows by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda / 352-page paperback published in 2025 by Canongate / ISBN 9781837264285

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Twenty-nine-year-old Riki is sick of her dead-end job, of struggling to get by ever since she moved to Tokyo from the country. So when someone offers her the chance to become a surrogate in return for a life-changing amount of money, it's hard to turn down. But how much of herself will she be forced to give away?

Retired ballet star Motoi and his wife, Yuko, have spent years trying to conceive. As Yuko begins to make peace with her childlessness, Motoi grows increasingly desperate for a child to whom he can pass on his elite genes. Their last resort is surrogacy; a business transaction, plain and simple. But as they try to exert ever more control over Riki, their contract with her starts to slip through their fingers . . .

Vibrating with the injustices of class and gender, tradition and power, Swallows is an acerbic, witty vision of contemporary Japan, and of a young woman's fight to preserve her dignity - at any cost.

Natsuo Kirino is one of Japan's most highly decorated authors - winner of both the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction for Out and the Naoki Prize for Soft Cheeks. In 2015 she was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon for her literary achievements. Swallows is her fifth novel to be translated into English, and a TV adaptation aired in summer 2024 to great critical acclaim.