Hunchback

Shaka Izawa was born with a muscle disease that has bent her spine into an S and left her breathing through a tube in her throat. Comfortably off on her inheritance, she lives in the care home her late mother and father owned and rarely leaves her room. There she studies online, writes throwaway web articles, posts erotic romance, and tweets wishes nobody around her would guess. Among residents and staff she plays the quiet, earnest disabled woman; her own voice, frank about phlegm, periods, desire and how paper books punish a body like hers, is for the reader alone. When Tanaka, a carer who counts himself among life's losers, finds her account, she offers him money to help her toward a hidden wish: to get pregnant, and then to end the pregnancy.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novella

Length

93 pages in the original

Set in

Japan

First published

2023 by Bungeishunju

Author's age

44 when first published

ISBN

9784163917122 (original)

9780593734711 (Hogarth, United States)

9780241700785 (Viking, United Kingdom)