Out on 12 November 2026
The Horse and I
Genki Kawamura, Inc.
Translated by Chikako Kobayashi
Pre-order now
12 November 2026
Imprint: Footnote Press
Synopsis
From bestselling author of If Cats Disappeared from the World comes a taut psychological mystery based on a real-life crime for fans of Butter and Diary of a Void.
She works quietly in a coastal shipyard office, barely noticed by those around her. Life passes in grey repetition until one day, on the side of a road, she sees something that changes everything: a black horse, still and watching.
From that moment, something begins to shift.
As her obsession deepens, so does the double life she builds in secret. What begins with a quiet longing grows into something far more dangerous - and her steady embezzlement threatens to put everything at risk.
Horse and I is a haunting, slow-burning psychological novel about the hunger for freedom in a world that insists on keeping women small. With echoes of Butter and Diary of a Void, it probes the uneasy space between yearning and transgression, beauty and brutality, and asks how far a person will go for the one thing that makes them feel alive.
A tense and mesmerising Japanese mystery where desire, silence, and power collide.
She works quietly in a coastal shipyard office, barely noticed by those around her. Life passes in grey repetition until one day, on the side of a road, she sees something that changes everything: a black horse, still and watching.
From that moment, something begins to shift.
As her obsession deepens, so does the double life she builds in secret. What begins with a quiet longing grows into something far more dangerous - and her steady embezzlement threatens to put everything at risk.
Horse and I is a haunting, slow-burning psychological novel about the hunger for freedom in a world that insists on keeping women small. With echoes of Butter and Diary of a Void, it probes the uneasy space between yearning and transgression, beauty and brutality, and asks how far a person will go for the one thing that makes them feel alive.
A tense and mesmerising Japanese mystery where desire, silence, and power collide.
Details
12 November 2026
176 pages
9781806170876
Imprint: Footnote Press
Reviews
“Reality and dreams are interwoven in this haunting slow-burn of a novel, and Kawamura leaves it up to the reader to decide which is which . . .The author's prose is unadorned, yet the narrative feels magically lyrical [and]
the book also poses the question, What lengths will we go to in order to feel fully alive?”Lillian Dabne, Booklist
“A beautifully disturbing look at what it means to ache for connection and grasp for love in a world often devoid of both.”Kirkus, Kirkus
