The Woman In The Purple Skirt A Novel Natsuko Imamura Lucy North Translation by Natsuko Imamura, Lucy North (translation) JHYQEAAAQBAJ instant download after payment.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR · Marie Claire

“A taut & compelling depiction of loneliness & obsession.”  — Paula Hawkins,  author of The Girl on the Train

“[It] will keep you firmly in its grip.” – Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer

“The love child of Eugene Ionesco & Patricia Highsmith.” — Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

A bestselling, prizewinning novel by one of Japan’s most acclaimed young writers, for fans of Convenience Store Woman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, & the movies Parasite & Rear Window

I think what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been wanting to become friends with the Woman in the Purple Skirt for a very long time…

Almost every afternoon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt sits on the same park bench, where she eats a cream bun while the local children make a game of trying to get her attention. Unbeknownst to her, she is being watched–by the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who is always perched just out of sight, monitoring which buses she takes, what she eats, whom she speaks to.

From a distance, the Woman in the Purple Skirt looks like a schoolgirl, but there are age spots on her face, & her hair is dry & stiff. She is single, she lives in a small apartment, & she is short on money–just like the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who lures her to a job as a housekeeper at a hotel, where she too is a housekeeper. Soon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss & all eyes are on her. But no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That’s the difference between her & the Woman in the Purple Skirt.

Studiously deadpan & chillingly voyeuristic, & with the off-kilter appeal of the novels of Ottessa Moshfegh, The Woman in the Purple Skirt explores envy, loneliness, power dynamics, & the vulnerability of unmarried women in a taut, suspenseful narrative about the sometimes desperate desire to be seen.