Elbrich Fennema Books

Winner of the Naoki Prize, this novel captivates with its heartwarming and suspenseful narrative about resilience and survival. Following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a young man discovers a stray dog named Tamon outside a convenience store. The dog's tag, bearing a name linked to a guardian deity, leads the man to take Tamon in, marking the beginning of the dog's journey to reunite with his first owner. Over five years, Tamon experiences life in six different homes, ultimately returning to Hikaru, a boy rendered mute by the trauma of the tsunami. Tamon serves as a catalyst for change, impacting everyone he meets. This bestselling, award-winning tale is both intimate and expansive, blending elements of heart-wrenching emotion with uplifting moments. It powerfully illustrates how love and loyalty can triumph over adversity, showcasing the profound bond between humans and dogs. Critics praise its emotional depth, noting that it avoids sentimentality while delivering a poignant meditation on hope amid despair. The storytelling shines, offering a moving exploration of connection and the transformative power of a dog's love.

First American Publication This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimedWind-Up Bird Chroniclehas sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event. Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman. A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age,Norwegian Woodtakes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84. In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a strange painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist's home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art - as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby - Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.

Part romance, part detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart tells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love. Now with a new introduction from the author. K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party—and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.

A young man accompanies his cousin to the hospital to check an unusual hearing complaint and recalls a story of a woman put to sleep by tiny flies crawling inside her ear;Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is Murakami's most eclectic collection of stories yet, and spans five years of his writing.