The Night of Baba Yaga - Akira Otani

Written by Akira Otani
Read by Cindy Kay
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Release Date: July 2, 2024
Length: 3 hrs 47 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0D7NXG7J5
Translator: Sam Bett

Tokyo, 1979. Yoriko Shindo, a workhorse of a woman who has been an outcast her whole life, is kidnapped and dragged to the lair of the Naiki-kai, a branch of the yakuza. After she savagely fends off a throng of henchmen in an attempt to escape, Shindo is only permitted to live under one condition: that she will become the bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, the obsessively sheltered daughter of the gang’s boss.

Eighteen-year-old Shoko, pretty and silent as a doll, has no friends, wears strangely old-fashioned clothes, and is naive in all matters of life. Originally disdaining her ward, Shindo soon finds herself far more invested in Shoko’s wellbeing than she ever expected. But every man around them is bloodthirsty and trigger-happy. Shindo doubts she and Shoko will survive much longer if nothing changes. Could there ever be a different life for two women like them?

Akira Otani’s English-language debut moves boldly through time and across gender, stretching the definitions and possibilities of each concept. Rendered in a gorgeous translation by International Booker-shortlisted Sam Bett, this lean, mean thriller proves that bonds forged in fire are unbreakable.

“Otani’s explosive debut navigates gender and time, offering a gripping, unbreakable thriller.”—Tokyo Weekender