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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Original language | |
| English | |
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WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS
Stunningly well written and incredibly powerful and engaging.
Within the Tokyo underworld there is an industry which exists to break up marriages. It is known today as wakaresaseya. This business is composed of agents who, for a fee, can be hired by one spouse to seduce the other and provide grounds for divorce on favourable terms.
Inspired by a real case, The Sentence tells the story of Takashi Nakamura, a wakaresaseya agent, who is hired by a man to seduce his wife. Takashi falls in love with his target, Rina, and after the divorce she moves in with him, unaware of what he does for a living. Eventually and inevitably, Rina discovers Takashi's profession and the role he played in her divorce and she threatens to leave him - with tragic consequences.
The narrative is led by Rina's daughter, Sumiko, who as an adult sets out to discover the truth behind her mother's death. Through Sumiko's story and that of Rina and Takashi, The Sentence explores the circumstances in which a person can come to love and yet kill another, and investigates the psychological repercussions this has both for those left behind and for the murderer himself. Ultimately, this is a story about understanding and coming to terms with the past, about family and love and the possibility of forgiveness.
Stephanie is a graduate of the Faber Academy creative writing course, was awarded a Distinction for her postgraduate M.St in Creative Writing at Oxford, won the AM Heath Prize, the Arvon Jerwood Prize for Literature, the National Centre for Writing Inspires Award and was runner-up for 2017's Bridport First Novel Award for an early draft of The Sentence.
She was born and raised in Singapore; her mother's side of the family is Malaysian, her father's English with roots in Malaysia, and both were marked by their experiences during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, hence Stephanie's interest in Japan. Her anthropological research into present-day Japan, where The Sentence is set, won her a prestigious studentship from the Toshiba International Foundation. After graduating from Cambridge, Stephanie worked in investment banking in New York, London and Rome before quitting to write full time. She lives in London.
Inspired by a real case, The Sentence tells the story of Takashi Nakamura, a wakaresaseya agent, who is hired by a man to seduce his wife. Takashi falls in love with his target, Rina, and after the divorce she moves in with him, unaware of what he does for a living. Eventually and inevitably, Rina discovers Takashi's profession and the role he played in her divorce and she threatens to leave him - with tragic consequences.
The narrative is led by Rina's daughter, Sumiko, who as an adult sets out to discover the truth behind her mother's death. Through Sumiko's story and that of Rina and Takashi, The Sentence explores the circumstances in which a person can come to love and yet kill another, and investigates the psychological repercussions this has both for those left behind and for the murderer himself. Ultimately, this is a story about understanding and coming to terms with the past, about family and love and the possibility of forgiveness.
Stephanie is a graduate of the Faber Academy creative writing course, was awarded a Distinction for her postgraduate M.St in Creative Writing at Oxford, won the AM Heath Prize, the Arvon Jerwood Prize for Literature, the National Centre for Writing Inspires Award and was runner-up for 2017's Bridport First Novel Award for an early draft of The Sentence.
She was born and raised in Singapore; her mother's side of the family is Malaysian, her father's English with roots in Malaysia, and both were marked by their experiences during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, hence Stephanie's interest in Japan. Her anthropological research into present-day Japan, where The Sentence is set, won her a prestigious studentship from the Toshiba International Foundation. After graduating from Cambridge, Stephanie worked in investment banking in New York, London and Rome before quitting to write full time. She lives in London.
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Book
Published 2020-04-07 by Doubleday |
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Book
Published 2020-04-07 by Doubleday |