Free from fear or favour
Tracking and cookies. WHY?

‘Hooked’:
A Biting Tale of Female Loneliness and Obsession

Nozomi Uematsu, Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield, reviews Asako Yuzuki’s new novel exploring the loneliness epidemic among women in Japan

After the sensational reception of her 2017 novel Butter (translated into English in 2024), Asako Yuzuki is back with Hooked (translated by Polly Barton) – a novel about loneliness and the sometimes twisted and complicated relationships between women.

The book revolves around two very different females in their 30s in Tokyo. 

Eriko is a career-driven woman with a stable income in a trading company, born and raised in Tokyo. Shōko is a housewife and blogger who writes about her daily life with her husband.

Bad Press Awards – The Enamel Egg Cup of Exploitation

You might assume that a supermarket worker being sacked for tackling a shoplifter would be a story for a local paper or a regional TV news programme. No! You’re thinking too small.
Mic Wright

That's True Too – Not Worth the Energy

I recently came alarmingly close to throwing the toaster at the radio in frustration with Simon Jack’s interview with John Browne, the former CEO of BP, on drilling in the North Sea.
Caroline Lucas