As I Live and Breathe

Nanae Aoyama

Jesse Kirkwood

A fresh offering in Japanese contemporary fiction from the award winning author of A Perfect Day to Be Alone, perfect for fans of Convenience Store Woman.

Madoka is stuck in her ways. She wakes up alone, goes to her agency job on the subway, comes home and cooks herself a solitary dinner. Her life is simple, and simple is what she likes.

Until, out of the blue, her long-lost brother turns up, looking for a place to stay. Futa is everything she is not: compulsive, enigmatic and carefree. At the end of each day, he faithfully records in his diary Madoka's actions as she tells them to him; who she speaks to, what she eats for lunch. What she thinks the following day will bring. Faced with a record of her monotonous daily existence, Madoka starts to wonder whether there could be more out there for her. And slowly, with the help of the brother who seems ever closer to disappearing from her life again, she starts to repair the threads that connect her to the world.

Witty, relatable and gently life-affirming, As I Live And Breathe is an evocation of a life flowering from solitude, and an intimation of the small joys to be found in the daily rhythms of existence.

Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood