Kafka on the Shore

In Kafka on the Shore, reality, mystery and magic merge in one of the finest novels from Japan's leading literary figure. The teenager, Kafka Tamura, goes on the run and holes up in a strange library in a small country town. Concurrently, Nakata, a finder of lost cats, embarks on a puzzling odyssey across Japan. Only gradually do we find how these stories interweave. Compelling story-telling drives Kafka on the Shore, but the novel is underpinned by Murakami's sensitive insight into humanity contrasted by a totally credible touch of the fantastical. It is a unique tour de force and particularly vivid in audiobook form. Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto on 12 January 1949. He began writing at the age of 24. The impulse to do so first struck him, he says, during a baseball match, at the very moment when a famous player hit a home run. He went straight home and started to write. With translations in other European languages, and a growing following on both sides of the Atlantic, Haruki Murakami's standing as one of the leading international writers of our time is increasing, and makes audio versions essential.