Translated from the Japanese
by Philip Gabriel
Hardback ● $45 - Harvill Secker
Readers around the world have been eagerly
anticipating Haruki Murakami’s next book since the English-language publication
of his best-selling epic, 1Q84, in 2011. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of
Pilgrimage was published to great acclaim in Japan in April
2013, selling one million copies in the first week. Newly released in Germany, Spain and Holland,
it has topped the bestsellers lists in all three countries.
Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By
chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called
Akamatsu, meaning ‘red pine’, and Oumi, ‘blue sea’, while the girls’ names were
Shirane, ‘white root’, and Kurono, ‘black field’. Tazaki was the only last name
with no colour in it.
One day Tsukuru Tazaki’s friends announced that they
didn’t want to see him, or talk to him, ever again.
Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through
life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara,
who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years
ago.
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and
now lives near Tokyo. His books include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up
Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, What I Talk About When I Talk
About Running, and 1Q84. His work has been translated into more than
fifty languages and he has received many honours, including the Franz Kafka
Prize.
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