Beautiful Distance

"Beautifully, startingly, explosively expansive . . . In this delicate, near miraculous novel, there is no path away from grief, but there is a kind of company in loss, and a continuation of love." -from the foreword by Katie Kitamura, author of Audition From one of Japan's most acclaimed writers comes a lyrical and poignant meditation on marriage, and the ways in which the most romantic gestures are often the quietest ones. Before the hospital, we had often raised our hands towards one another as we'd gone through life together. A man sits in a cafe, sipping a green juice and watching the world go by. A calico cat jumps onto a wall; a white butterfly flutters through the air; cherry blossom petals fall, softly, to the ground. Life, momentarily, stands still, as our unnamed narrator prepares to visit his terminally ill wife in hospital, and reminisces on the life they have shared together. A prize-winning bestseller in Japan, Beautiful Distance is a profoundly affecting and intimate story that looks with honesty and tenderness at the journey towards the end of a life. It explores what family means, how we think about death, and the lasting power of small acts of love.

Nao-Cola Yamazaki (Yamazaki Nao-Cola) is a Japanese writer. They pride themselves on writing "things no one else can say in words anyone can understand". They have won the Bungei Prize and the Shimase Award for Love Stories and been nominated multiple times for the Akutagawa Prize. Charlotte Goff is an Edinburgh-based literary translator. She was selected for the National Centre for Writing's 2024 Emerging Translator Mentorship, and mentored by Polly Barton.