Discover this prizewinning, thrillingly subversive new novel that's perfect for fans of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs.

'Incredibly thought-provoking... you'll love Yagi's writing' Stylist

'One of the most passionate cases I've ever read for female interiority, for women's creative pulse and rich inner life' The New Yorker


For the sake of women everywhere, Ms Shibata is going to pull off the mother of all deceptions...

Ms Shibata refuses to clear away the coffee and cigarette butts at work one day, because she's pregnant and can't bear the smell. The only thing is . . . Ms Shibata is not pregnant.

Being a mother-to-be isn't easy. Ms Shibata has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her 'pregnancy', the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.

'A subversive, surreal read that will strike a cord' Red Magazine

'An insight into what it means to be a woman in our time... As a mode of resistance, Shibata's trick is perfect' Electric Literature

Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd and Lucy North