Nails and Eyes

Under strange circumstances, a young girl loses her mother, and her father blindly invites his girlfriend into the home to care for her. On shaky new ground, the girl struggles, then develops an uncanny grasp of her mother's pristine life and the new interloper's messy past. As the months go by, the knowledge slowly ferments.

With masterful narrative control, Nails and Eyes-which was awarded the Akutagawa Prize-builds to a conclusion of disturbing power. Paired with two stories of unsettled minds and creeping tension, it introduces a daring new voice in Japanese literature.