Sisters in Yellow

Rising star Mieko Kawakami reaches new heights in this fast-paced, electrifying novel — a Japanese Breaking Bad — in which a group of friends fight for freedom, independence, and survival in 1990s Tokyo, a city increasingly split between haves and have-nots.

Each of them is running from something. Fatherless and weary of her classmates’ pity, Hana finds an unlikely role model in Kimiko — older than Hana’s mother yet brimming with youth, confidence, and dreams of a better life. Fate brings them together with two more young women, battered but unbroken. United by necessity and ambition, the four set out to reinvent themselves, battling predatory lenders, organized crime, and relentless bad luck as they open a bar called Lemon.

Keeping the business afloat — and protecting one another — becomes the heart of this gripping story. Through vivid portraits of Tokyo’s nightlife matriarchy and its criminal margins, Kawakami captures a world where everyone is chasing renewal, from bar owners and aging hostesses to street touts drawing customers into places like Lemon. But in a city built on risk, not everyone gets a second chance.