When he receives a message from a lover from the 60s who disappeared, Reykjavik restaurant owner Krist�fer is pulled toward finding an answer to the mystery of her sudden departure, compelling him to travel to London and Japan just as the virus threatens to shut everything down.

Unable to find the perfect job that suits her needs, a young woman discovers an alternative to the daily grind that comes with a high price.

"A bestselling, prizewinning novel of obsession and psychological intrigue about two enigmatic unmarried women, one of whom manipulates the other from afar, by one of Japan's most acclaimed young writers"--

In 1903, a young Scotswoman named Mary Mackenzie sets sail for China to marry her betrothed, a military attach.

"In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that--until he does it too well. While...