Sakate

Kobayashi runs a small-town neighborhood bar called Sakate. Six regular customers drop in. One is angry, one drunk, one verging on dementia, one wanting to have an affair, one wanting to get married, and one to gloat about her promotion. They all have one thing in common: all love saké. This is a quiet novel that includes Kobayashi's reading habit and books, her urge to make money, and her history of alcohol. Six Japanese novels and six different saké from Ishikawa prefecture are introduced while Kobayashi serves her customers and tells them what they want to hear. It is short, about 14,000 words which translates into about 50 pages in a pocketbook-size format. It includes how Sakate came to be written and a bonus short story.