'Poignant . . . deeply nostalgic.' GLAMOUR 'Strange, melancholy and beautiful.' BRANDON TAYLOR 'The supreme poet of solitude.' SPECTATOR There was no past, no future, no words, nothing - just the light and the yellow and the scent of dry leaves in the sun. Japan's internationally celebrated storyteller returns with five stories of healing and hope. Effortlessly beautiful, nostalgic and melancholy, the stories in Dead-End Memories explore the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, find solace in the blissful moments in everyday life. The daughter of a restaurant owner experiences a budding romance, accompanied by the ghosts of an elderly couple. After a scandalous near-death experience, an editor gains a new lease of life. A woman seeks refuge in the apartment above her uncle's bar after being betrayed by her fiance. As Yoshimoto's gentle, effortless prose reminds us, one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to see it. Review Select Guide Rating Review A poignant collection of stories that delves into themes of loss, love, and healing [...] Yoshimoto once again captivates with her delicate prose and deeply nostalgic insight. a?? Glamour [Yoshimoto] is the supreme poet of solitude, and how it can grip even in the middle of one of the world's busiest cities . . . There are always the epiphanies, and cake, and chicken with rice, but most of all the tiny kindnesses from other human beings that make life worth persevering with.' a?? Spectator Strange, melancholy and beautiful. At the centre of each story is a woman negotiating the quiet fallout of personal history. . . each one feels distinct, rich in its own particular way. . . These stories made me believe again that it was possible to write honestly, rigorously, morally, about the material reality of characters; to write toward human warmth as a reaffirmation of the bonds that tie us together. This is a supremely hopeful book, one that feels important because it shows that happiness, while not always easy, is still a subject worthy of art. -- Brandon Taylor a?? The New York Times Book Review Dead-End Memories is a collection of stories, each of which, while specific and distinct, has at its centre a woman both losing and finding something of herself. In Asa Yoneda's elegant translation of this collection-whose title story Yoshimoto herself considers her best-the soothing rhythm of the everyday and the mundane is broken by equally quiet moments of profundity. -- Ilana Masad a?? An NPR Best Book of the Year Reading Banana Yoshimoto is like taking a bracing, cleansing bath. These gentle yet formidable stories in Dead-End Memories rinse away the unimportant minutiae of life, leaving behind only the essential. -- Ling Ma, author of Severance Gravely beautiful and quietly melancholy, these five stories, elegantly translated by Asa Yoneda, shine a gentle light on the emotional upheaval in the lives of the heartbroken, lost and melancholy. a?? Daily Mail Yoshimoto has an effortless ability to penetrate her characters' hearts. a?? The New York Times [Yoshimoto's] ability to make everyday events seem romantic is a rare gift. a?? Harper's Bazaar A sure and lyrical writer . . . Yoshimoto transforms the trite into the essential. a?? The New Yorker A master storyteller . . . The sensuality is subtle, masked, and extraordinarily powerful. a?? Chicago Tribune There is no such thing as a stock character in Yoshimoto's fiction. She writes utterly without pretense. a?? The Washington Post "oshimoto's writing style is economical. Most of her protagonists are, at heart, well-meaning people. And her stories assert, unabashedly, that good stories don't have to have unhappy endings. -- Alison Fincher a?? Asian Review of Books Dead-End Memories follows several women, each one coming back to her life after a traumatic event. Although you will find heartbreak, ghosts, and betrayal humming in the background of these tales, you will also encounter a great deal of heart and optimism. Don't we all need that right now? It's the kind of collection that leaves you a little lighter. -- Katie Yee a?? A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year Once upon a time, Yoshimoto (born 1964) debuted as one of Japan's youngest literary phenoms. In the decades since, she continues to produce brilliantly relevant fiction, notable for an open, accessible simplicity that belies revelatory observations about life, love, happiness, and more . . . Her latest collection contains five short stories translated again by Yoneda. Each tale features women examining significant relationships, and each involves food-related settings-restaurants, cafeterias, a bar-seeming to suggest emotional needs transformed into something achingly physical . . . Bittersweet yet radiant, poignant yet promising, Yoshimoto once again showcases her dazzling appeal. a?? Booklist (starred review) Yoshimoto's resonant collection centers on women struggling through challenging events. Though the characters in each of the five stories have been struck by bad luck and duplicity, they are intrinsically good-natured and are also greatly influenced by the generational traditions of their forebears . . . Yoshimoto embellishes these gorgeously written gems with sensual descriptions of food and sex, and makes them memorable by showing how the women set themselves free from misfortune via friendship and resilience. This is a gem. a?? Publishers Weekly (starred review) Book Description From the beloved, bestselling author of Kitchen - five effortlessly beautiful, strange and melancholy stories of heartbreak, hope and trying to see beauty in the everyday. From the Back Cover Japan's internationally celebrated storyteller returns with five stories of healing and hope. Effortlessly beautiful, nostalgic and melancholic, the stories in Dead-End Memories explore the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, find solace in the blissful moments in everyday life. The daughter of a restaurant owner experiences a budding romance, accompanied by the ghosts of an elderly couple. After a scandalous near-death experience, an editor gains a new lease of life. A woman About the Author Banana Yoshimoto is the prize-winning and internationally bestselling author of many works of fiction, including Kitchen, Goodbye Tsugumi and The Premonition. Her work has been translated in over thirty countries. She lives in Tokyo. Asa Yoneda was born in Osaka and studied language, literature, and translation at University of Oxford and SOAS University of London. She now lives in Bristol, U.K. In addition to Yukiko Motoya, she has translated works by Banana Yoshimoto, Aoko Matsuda, and Natsuko Kuroda.