June 2020

WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott is a brilliant debut novel set in modern-day Japan. It revolves around the tradition of “wakaresaseya,” where one person is hired by another to seduce a spouse and break up a marriage, with a goal that this will bring a better settlement in a divorce.

Here, a young woman is searching for the truth about her mother’s death. For years, Sumiko had been told that her mother, Rina, died in a car accident. As she is taking the final steps to becoming a lawyer, she gets a call that shatters that idea. What really happened, and how did that impact all that she knows about her life?

Loosely based on a real-life crime that Stephanie read about and was haunted by, this is a look into not just the break-up culture, but what love means and how it can change over time. I read an early copy of the book back in October, and I have been looking forward to sharing it with our readers. It will be a terrific title for book groups. Stephanie has created an imaginative discussion guide for it that includes food and drink recipes, as well as pronunciations of all the character names.

It’s smart reading from a wonderful storyteller, and I want to read more of her work. Stephanie spent 10 years writing this book; I have told her I do not want to wait 10 more for the next one!