- Akutagawa Prize 2021 (first half) · Winner
The Place of Shells
貝に続く場所にて · Kai ni tsuzuku basho nite
Mai Ishizawa (石沢麻依, born 1980)
Translated by Polly Barton
English editions
In EnglishThe Place of Shells
New Directions · United States · 2025 · 145 pages
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A Japanese woman living in Göttingen while the pandemic hangs over the town opens her door to a friend who vanished in the 2011 tsunami. He is no faint ghost: light will not pass through him, and his arrival comforts her. She was no victim of the disaster herself, and he belongs neither to the living nor to the dead. As his visit goes on, the German town's past and her memories of home settle on one another in layers.
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About the book
- Form
- Novel
- Length
- 151 pages in the original
- Set in
- Germany, 2020
- First published
- 2021 by Kodansha
- Author's age
- 41 when first published
- ISBN
9784065241882 (original)
9780811237789 (New Directions, United States)