Ophelia No. 23

Some rabbit holes are darker than others

A provocative, addictive novel of one young woman's flirtation with all the ideas she opposes—by the acclaimed author of Hunchback, one of the most innovative voices in global literature

Like many young women, Nao spends much of her time online going down rabbit holes that lead to unexpected, often questionable places. A twenty-three-year-old student, Nao finds herself researching everything from anti-feminist nineteenth-century Austrian philosophy to the influential but reactionary Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima, trying to make sense of ideas that are in opposition to what she believes.

When her theater-director boyfriend asks Nao to film a pornographic re-enactment of one of Mishima's most controversial short stories, she prepares by doing a deep dive into the many misogynistic depictions of Hamlet's Ophelia, a journey of the mind and body that will transform Nao's understanding of herself and the power and agency of young women in today's online culture.

Original, arresting, and very much of our times, Ophelia No. 23 is the urgent novel by one of Japan's most exciting writers who consistently puts a spotlight on the lives of women too often left in the margins.