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  • Published: 26 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9789814914086
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $27.99

Speed of Lightness




A window on modern Japan, this off-kilter, anti-sentimental literary thriller is an eye-opening journey into the hinterlands of a postmodern nation.

Kyoto University student Aozora Fujiwara has been playing too much mah-jong and now he’s deep in debt.

When Aunt Okane (‘money’) dies and leaves a collection of priceless art to him and his sister, Mai, he thinks his problems are solved. But they’re only just beginning: Mai’s disappeared and he can’t liquidate the estate without her. The quest that ensues takes Aozora to the deep south of Japan and the unlikely setting of a Dutch theme park called, Amsterland… The joy in Sherwood’s tale is in Aozora’s madcap journey, during which he meets a slew of silly—and often sinister—souls. Among them: an oyster-loving businessman who sells lifelike inflatable dolls, and a corpulent crime boss who looks like a cross between Liberace and Kim Jong-Il.

In his carefully woven descriptions, Sherwood shows unusual insight into a fast-changing society of disaffected youth and sleazy governance. This picaresque on steroids offers a refreshingly irreverent look at contemporary life in a not entirely implausible Japan.

  • Published: 26 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9789814914086
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $27.99

About the author

Barrie Sherwood

Barrie Sherwood was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Canada. His previous works include the novels The Pillow Book of Lady Kasa and Speed of Lightness, and a collection of short stories, The Angel Tiger. He lives in Singapore.

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