Hardboiled and Hard Luck

Hardboiled opens as the narrator treks high above her secluded mountain hotel on the anniversary of her lovers death. Hard Luck opens with another female narrator, this time at the bedside of her sister, who lies in a coma. Exploring the ghosts of love, memory, and intimate secrets, these are two haunting and atmospheric tales from Japan's leading female writer. 'Yoshimoto's writing is lucid, earnest and disarming, as emotionally observant as Jane Smiley's, as fluently readable as Anne Tyler's.' The New York Times