The Night of Baba Yaga (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781641294911)

A fierce mixed-race fighter develops a powerful attachment to the yakuza princess she's been forced to protect in this explosive queer thriller: Kill Bill meets The Handmaiden meets Thelma and Louise

Tokyo, 1979. Yoriko Shindo, a workhorse of a woman who has been an outcast her whole life, is kidnapped and dragged to the lair of the Naiki-kai, a branch of the yakuza. After she savagely fends off a throng of henchmen in an attempt to escape, Shindo is only permitted to live under one condition: that she will become the bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, the obsessively sheltered daughter of the gang's boss.

Eighteen-year-old Shoko, pretty and silent as a doll, has no friends, wears strangely old-fashioned clothes, and is completely naive in all matters of life. Originally disdaining her ward, Shindo soon finds herself far more invested in Shoko's well-being than she ever expected. But every man around them is bloodthirsty and trigger-happy. Shindo doubts she and Shoko will survive much longer if nothing changes. Could there ever be a different life for two women like them?

Akira Otani's English-language debut moves boldly through time and across gender, stretching the definitions and possibilities of each concept. Rendered in a gorgeous translation by International Booker-shortlisted Sam Bett, this lean, mean thriller proves that bonds forged in fire are unbreakable.

Author: Akira Otani
ISBN-10: 1641294914
ISBN-13: 9781641294911
Publisher: Soho Crime
Language: English
Published: 07/02/2024
Pages: 216
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/22/2024