The Horse and I

From the award-winning film director and New York Times bestselling author of If Cats Disappeared from the World, a dark, introspective novel about a woman and a horse. A horse stood on the highway. Yuko Setoguchi, a lonely clerk at a shipyard whose life has passed her by, is making her regular commute when she has a fateful encounter with a former racehorse, Strada, who seems to have escaped from his trailer just to cross her path. Yuko feels strangely compelled by Strada, following him to the outskirts of town, riding him at the struggling Mugikura Riding Club, and forging an instant and special connection. In a world overflowing with words, Yuko feels a love that is more powerful in its silence. But in order to be with Strada, she will need more than just love; she needs money, too. And she knows just where to find it. With dreams of restoring the horse to his former glory, Yuko turns to the shipyard union's coffers, falsifying the books and embezzling what she considers a temporary loan, but which rapidly exceeds a hundred million yen. And when a coworker discovers her secret, the pressure is on for Yuko to make a decision: turn herself in, or commit to making Strada a champion, regardless of the cost.

Genki Kawamura was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1979. He produced films such as Confessions, Villain, Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki, your name, and Koreeda's Monster. He is the youngest recipient in history for the Fujimoto Award. In 2012, he published his first novel If Cats Disappeared from the World. The book has been translated in 32 countries. Other works include Million Dollar Man, April Come She Will, Divine Song, Shigoto, Rikei, and The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse which he translated into Japanese. In 2022, he directed and wrote the film A Hundred Flowers based on his novel, for which he received the Silver Shell for Best Director Award at San Sebastian International Film Festival. Chikako Kobayashi is a Japanese-to-English translator who once almost got a job as a Japanese-English interpreter for Steven Seagal. Born to peripatetic parents and brought up in Hong Kong, Japan, and the U.S., she has also spent time in mainland China teaching English. She is currently based in Tokyo.