{"product_id":"swallows-hardcover","title":"Swallows - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eNatsuo Kirino\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eLisa Hofmann-Kuroda\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe highly anticipated new novel. When a young single woman in Tokyo decides she's ready to sell anything--even her womb--to escape the precarity of her life, an agency pairs her with a wealthy couple desperate to have a child. The match seems made in heaven. She even looks a little like the wife. But is anything ever that simple?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNothing has ever gone right for Riki. She left her boring hometown in Hokkaido, where she worked at a nursing home, for a better life in Tokyo. But as a temp in the big city she has no job security, and barely scrapes by. She eats the same old discount boiled egg for lunch every day, sometimes for dinner, too. Many of her peers have to take on a side hustle just to make ends meet. So when her friend discovers an agency offering a hefty sum for egg donation, both leap at the chance for an interview. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMeanwhile, former ballet star Motoi Kusaoke and his wife, Yuko, have been trying to conceive for years. After trying what feels like every available option, it seems futile--until Motoi dives deep into his research and learns that, while surrogacy is technically illegal in Japan, there is a company that's found a loophole. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBefore long, everyone has an opinion on the matter: from Yuko's sex-obsessed, asexual best friend, to Motoi's controlling prima ballerina mother, and even the affable sex-worker-slash-therapist that Riki has been to a couple of times, after she accepted a down payment to be a surrogate. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAcutely funny and addictively page-turning, \u003ci\u003eSwallows \u003c\/i\u003epulls at the seams of society, reassessing our understanding of motherhood, self-worth, bodily autonomy, and class. What does it mean to be \"in control\"? And can money really buy happiness?\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eNATSUO KIRINO, born in 1951, is one of the most popular literary writers in modern Japan. She won the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction in Japan for her 1998 novel \u003ci\u003eOut\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as one of Japan's major literary awards--the Naoki Prize--for \u003ci\u003eSoft Cheeks \u003c\/i\u003e(coming soon from Knopf) the following year. Several of her books have also been turned into feature movies. \u003ci\u003eOut \u003c\/i\u003ewas the first of her novels to appear in English and was nominated for an Edgar Award. She lives in Japan.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLISA HOFMANN-KURODA is a literary translator. Born in Tokyo, raised in Texas, she is the co-translator of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's \u003ci\u003eKappa\u003c\/i\u003e (New Directions, 2023), Yuko Tsushima's \u003ci\u003eWildcat Dome\u003c\/i\u003e (FSG, 2025), Yoko Tawada's \u003ci\u003eExophony\u003c\/i\u003e (New Directions, 2025) and Natsuo Kirino's \u003ci\u003eSwallows\u003c\/i\u003e (Knopf, 2025). She lives in New York City.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 352\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.8 x 8.1 x 5.8 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 09, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43482565771399,"sku":"9780307267580","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/MUocsvksuo9780307267580.webp?v=1763369498","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/swallows-hardcover","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}