When the Museum is Closed

There she stood. A goddess. I was in love with the marble goddess.

When Rika Horauchi accepts an unusual new part-time job, she never expects to fall in love.

Rika has been tasked with talking to Venus, to keep her company when the museum is closed on Mondays. As Venus comes to life in the quiet of their surroundings, she opens up new worlds for Rika, and they speak about everything. But when the museum’s curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do?

When the Museum is Closed is by turns charming, funny and surprising, a love story about our perceptions of beauty, overcoming loneliness and breaking free.

Translated by Yuki Tejima

'Slim and strangely exuberant...[an] unexpected, absurd humour' New Yorker

© Emi Yagi 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025