Showing results by narrator "Susan Hingley" in All Categories

When a man's favourite elephant vanishes, the balance of his whole life is subtly upset. A couple's midnight hunger pangs drive them to hold up a McDonald's. A woman finds she is irresistible to a small green monster that burrows through her front garden. An insomniac wife wakes up in a twilight world of semi-consciousness in which anything seems possible - even death. In every one of these stories Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal.

Brought to you Penguin. ‘Kabahiko is an amazing hippo. People say that if you touch the area of his body that you want to make better on yours, he’ll provide a cure' Nestling at the bottom of a five-storey apartment block is the children's playground, Hinode Park. If you look to the side...

Twenty-five-year-old Takano has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Ojisan, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoki left him five years earlier. When Takano's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takano is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.

In Tokyo, there is a neighbourhood with the highest number of bookstores in the world. It is called Jinbocho where book lovers can browse to their heart's delight and where hunters of first editions or autographed copies prowl the bookcases. The Morisaki bookshop, a small family-run shop, is so packed with books that barely five people can fit inside. Books crowd the shelves and invade every corner of the floor; when a customer arrives, the owner, Satoru, immediately pops out from behind the counter.

Hidden away, the Morisaki Bookshop is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building, the shop is filled with hundreds of second-hand books. Here is where Takako comes to nurse a broken heart, finding within its crowded shelves books to soothe and uplift her flagging spirits. Over the course of two novels, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Takako and her uncle Satoru discover their similarities and differences, and learn all about life, love and the healing power of books.

Brought to you by Penguin. The heartwarming Japanese bestseller for fans of Matt Haig, Fredrik Backman and THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS 'Library. What a nice-sounding word. So comforting. I feel like I'm a student again. Library ... Am I allowed to borrow books?' 'What are you looking for?' asks...

Brought to you by Penguin. What if we could learn to look instead of see, listen instead of hear, feel instead of touch? Former monk and bestselling author Ryunosuke Koike shows how, by incorporating simple Zen practices into our daily lives, we can reconnect with our five senses and live in a...

An engaged couple falls out over the husband's dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. This exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: 'A Clean Marriage', which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child.

The Japanese ideology that gives you the powers to embrace everything life throws at you in order to live at peace and harmoniously - as explained by the global bestselling author who brought you ikigai. Nagomi represents a state of being where both 'bad' and 'good' things live in harmonious and...

In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of the Mothers. Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants.

Brought to you by Penguin. A charming book of linked stories with a sprinkling of cosy fantasy and a fable-like touch . . . Welcome to the Amberglow Candy Store. The confections can give you what you most desire, but not in the way you expect . . . Welcome. We don’t get many humans here. At...

The year is 1903, and tenacious and spirited Aoi Ichi is sold to the most exclusive brothel in Kumamoto, Japan, becoming the protégée of Shinonome, the oiran, or the highest-ranking courtesan. Through Shinonome's teachings, fifteen-year-old Ichi begins to understand the intertwined power of sex and money. Education for a courtesan extends beyond the art of seduction, and as Ichi is taught to read and write she develops a voice that refuses to be dampened by the brothel's rigid hierarchy.

'A fast-paced, beautifully written, and moving story. Refreshing to read a book set in a different theatre of war. Wartime Shanghai jumped off the page' CLARE FLYNN 'Wow what a stunning read this was … All the moments in this book held me' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Unputdownable read'...

There's a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls. Sora hates the catfish whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. Now Sora and her scientist father live close to the zones–the wild and abandoned places where time runs faster or slower than normal. Sora is sensitive to the shifts, and her father recruits her help in exploring these liminal spaces. But it's dangerous there.

The Moon has been sucked through a wormhole in space and has arrived countless miles away from its proper place. The crew of Moonbase Alpha can only guess at the resultant devastation left behind on Earth. They must decide how best they can survive. Some Alphans find it difficult to let go of the notion of returning to Earth, others are facing the reality that they must find another home to ensure the survival of the human race. They can't survive on Alpha indefinitely.

Having married her childhood sweetheart, Riko now finds herself trapped in a relationship that has been soured by infidelity. One day, by chance, she runs into her old friend Mr. Takaoka, who offers friendship, love, and an unusual escape: he teaches her the trick of living inside her dreams. And so, each night, she sinks into another life: first as a high-ranking courtesan in the 17th century, and then as a serving lady to a princess in the late Middle Ages.

urara and her shipmates have escaped the grasp of the princess, whose wish to control and command them as her own human shikigami would be a fate worse than death. Travelling through the forests and across the seas of Mikoshima, they finally the Grand Stream, where their old airship—and old enemies—await. Both parties seek the greatest shikigami of all: Suzaku, a paper phoenix. But will it be saved—or destroyed?

Teen fantasy adventure set in a world of flying ships and sky cities, where chosen ones have the ability to bring paper to life and work as Crafters - people who hunt wild paper spirits called shikigami. Inspired by Asian culture and exploring themes of empire, slavery and freedom.

Momoka lives to dance, and learning ballet at Shimmer & Shine with all her friends is a dream come true! So when her grandma, a world-renowned violinist who wants Momoka to follow in her footsteps, comes to visit, Momoka worries how she will break the news that she just wants to dance. She doesn't want to disappoint Grandma, but her heart belongs only to ballet.

Chowa is a Japanese concept that is often translated as 'harmony', but more accurately means 'the search for balance'. Chowa is both a philosophy and a set of practices that can help us get to the heart of what is most important to us, and change our way of thinking about ourselves and others. This book will teach you how to apply the lessons of chowa to your own life to better focus on what really matters and cultivate an everyday state of equilibrium and calm that will help you feel ready for anything.