Beautiful Distance

A Novel

By: Nao-Cola Yamazaki

“In Beautiful Distance, Nao-Cola Yamazaki untangles and illuminates, vividly and delicately, all of the unspoken emotions that exist between their characters. This novel moved me to tears.” —Hiromi Kawakami, Booker Award-shortlisted author of Strange Weather in Tokyo

From one of Japan’s most acclaimed writers comes a lyrical and poignant meditation on marriage, and the ways in which the most romantic gestures are often the quietest ones.

Before the hospital, we had often raised our hands towards one another as we’d gone through life together.

A man sits in a cafe, sipping a green juice and watching the world go by. A white butterfly flutters through the air; a calico cat jumps onto a wall; cherry blossom petals fall, softly, to the ground. Life, momentarily, stands still, as our unnamed narrator prepares to visit his terminally ill wife in hospital, and reminisces on the life they have shared together.

A prize-winning bestseller in Japan, Beautiful Distance is a profoundly affecting and intimate story that looks with honesty and tenderness at the journey towards the end of a life. It explores what family means, how we think about death, and the lasting power of small acts of love.