Someone to Cook For

A gentle, humorous, and deeply tender novel about found families, the people who shape us, and the quiet complexities of love beyond blood ties.

Yuko has lived under four different surnames and grown up in more than one household. Though none of her parental figures are related to her by blood, each has loved her fiercely in their own way. Pragmatic, resilient, and free of bitterness, Yuko has learned to adapt to life’s shifts and fractures, always finding her way back to a fragile but steady balance.

Years later, as an adult, Yuko marries Hayase, a gifted pianist she has known since her school days. Before fully stepping into this new chapter, she sets out to reconnect with the parental figures who raised her, seeking their blessing for her marriage. As she revisits her past and the people who shaped it, Yuko comes to a deeper understanding of what it truly means to belong — and what, in the end, makes a family.