Territory of Light

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Description

A powerfully tender portrait of a single mother in 1970s Tokyo. 'Wonderfully poetic ... extraordinary freshness ... a Virginia Woolf quality' Margaret Drabble Territory of Light is the radiant story of a young woman, living alone in Tokyo with her two-year-old daughter. Its twelve chapters follow the first year of the narrator's separation from her husband. The novel is full of light, sometimes comforting and sometimes dangerous- sunlight streaming through windows, dappled light in the park, distant fireworks, dazzling floodwater, de-saturated streetlamps and mysterious explosions. The delicate prose is beautifully patterned- the cumulative effect is disarmingly powerful and bright after-images remain in your mind for a long time.

Reviews

Tsushima evades any label, her fiction transcends gender to focus on the existential loneliness that is at the heart of humanity. -- Kris Kosaka * Japan Times *
Wonderfully poetic ... extraordinary freshness ... a Virginia Woolf quality -- Margaret Drabble * BBC Radio 3 *
Spiky, atmospheric and intimate, filled with moments of strangeness that linger in the mind * The Spectator *
In this short, powerful novel lurk the joy and guilt of single parents everywhere * Guardian *
This exquisite and poignant novel . . . will resonate with single mothers always and everywhere -- Shami Chakrabarti
An extraordinary book . . . cool analytic intelligence propelled by sudden eruptions of passion -- Lisa Appignanesi
An astonishing and exquisite masterpiece about love, motherhood, female independence, and the restoration of a damaged family. Yuko Tsushima is an unforgettable name alongside great masters like Virginia Woolf, Alice Munro and Elizabeth Strout -- J. M. Lee, author of The Investigation

Author Bio

Yuko Tsushima (Author) Yuko Tsushima was born in Tokyo in 1947, the daughter of the novelist Osamu Dazai, who took his own life when she was one year old. Her prolific literary career began with her first collection of short stories, Shaniku-sai (Carnival), which she published at the age of twenty-four. She won many awards, including the Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature (1977), the Kawabata Prize (1983) and the Tanizaki Prize (1998). She died in 2016.