吹上奇譚 第四話 ミモザ

吹上奇譚 #4

by Banana Yoshimoto, 吉本 ばなな

私はもう、あなたなしでは歩けない。単なる友だちだけれど。
海と山に囲まれた吹上町で、ミミは霊媒師の美鈴に出会った。
母親により痛めつけられた美鈴に、ある日妊娠が発覚し──。
傷と再生、欲と本質、自然の力を描き切った傑作長編、堂々完結。
読むとそれだけで心の底にたまり、後からじわじわと効いてくるタイプの作品ではないかと思う。──吉本ばなな

176 pages, Hardcover

Published October 26, 2022

About the author

Banana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな or 吉本 ばなな) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).)

Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age.

She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."

Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."