Mongrel (Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2024) - Hanako Footman

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024Mongrel is so beautiful that I became lost in it . . . Simply, it must be read LISA TADDEOA brilliant explosion of writing and storytelling . . . This feels like reading an Oscar-winning film AISLING BEAHeart-shatteringly visceral and precise . . . a triumphant tribute to the self WIZ WHARTONThis compulsive, engrossing, and gorgeous debut will utterly consume you. Read it now STEPHANIE SCOTT Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyos nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the citys sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.