Goodbye Tsugumi

In this “witty, perceptive novel”, a young woman moves to Tokyo and encounters the world of university enrollment & impending adulthood (Elle).

Banana Yoshimoto’s novels of young life in Japan have made her an international sensation. Goodbye Tsugumi is an offbeat story of a deep & complicated friendship between two female cousins that ranks among her best work.

Maria is the only daughter of an unmarried woman. She has grown up at the seaside alongside her cousin Tsugumi, a lifelong invalid, charismatic, spoiled, & occasionally cruel. Now Maria’s father is finally able to bring Maria & her mother to Tokyo, ushering Maria into a world of university, impending adulthood, & a “normal” family.

When Tsugumi invites Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love & Maria learns the true meaning of home & family. She also has to confront both Tsugumi’s inner strength & the real possibility of losing her.

Goodbye Tsugumi is a beguiling, resonant novel from one of the world’s finest young writers.

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Banana Yoshimoto has won numerous prizes in her native Japan, & her first book, Kitchen, has sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books have been translated & published in more than twenty countries. She lives in Tokyo.

Michael Emmerich is the translator of many books by Japanese authors. He holds a PhD in Japanese Literature from Columbia university & was a Costen Postoctoral Fellow at Princeton University.