The Woman, the Boy and the Whale

The mega-bestselling winner of the Japan Booksellers’ Award and author of THE CONVENIENCE STORE BY THE SEA: a deeply moving novel about trauma, connection, and the courage to begin again. For fans of Matt Haig and BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

Readers adore THE WOMAN, THE BOY AND THE WHALE:
‘I read this in a single sitting and it saved me from the loneliness I had in my heart’ *****
‘A wonderful, beautiful story of what is both ugly and precious about humanity’ *****

Some voices go unheard. This is what happens when one is finally found

When Kiko escapes her hard Tokyo life for a rural village by the sea, the locals can’t help but question her intentions. Rumours start to fly and wariness spreads. Except nothing can be more painful than where Kiko came from. Then, one day, Kiko stumbles across a boy who cannot speak. He’s shy and timid, a little wary himself.

But when Kiko shares with him the tale of the 52-hertz whale – a creature whose voice rings through the vastness of the sea, but who cannot be heard, no matter how loud it sings – the boy begins to let her in on his own story, revealing the moment that forced him to stop singing and setting them on a journey to reclaim the boy’s voice, and to recover what it means to truly be heard.

Devastatingly tender and filled to the brim with humanity, The Woman, The Boy, and The Whale is a nuanced, heartfelt story of hope, survival, and the life-changing force of connection, and the incredible masterpiece that launched Sonoko Machida as an internationally bestselling author.
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MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE JAPAN BOOKSELLERS’ AWARD
MADE INTO AN AWARD-NOMINATED FILM