Tsubaki Stationery Store

A spellbinding and heartwarming Japanese bestseller about a young woman who inherits a stationery store from her late grandmother and becomes the trusted scribe of the town

You always told me that writing is life itself.

After many years abroad, Hatoko reluctantly returns to Kamakura to take over the stationery store left to her by her late grandmother. As the custodian of the store, she also inherits the profession of public scribe, a role Hatoko trained for as a child under the guidance of her strict grandmother.

As the locals seek out Hatoko's help, she takes on all manner of requests: writing letters of greeting, condolence, farewell, love, and more on behalf of those who come to her. A local community forms around Hatoko and the store, and when the secrets of her late grandmother begin to unravel, Hatoko learns that the role of the scribe requires much more than putting ink to paper.

Set to the rhythm of the four seasons and the Japanese rituals and festivities that come with them, Tsubaki Stationery Store is a charming story about the importance of community and the reconciliatory power of the written word.Ito Ogawa is a novelist from Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Since her debut The Restaurant of Love Regained, she has written many novels, essays and children’s books. Several of her books have been bestsellers and she has been nominated for the Japan Booksellers’ Award on three occasions, including for Tsubaki Stationery Store.

Cat Anderson is a translator of Japanese books and manga. A National Centre for Writing mentee and winner of the JLPP International Translation Competition, her other translations include The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi, The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada, and ‘The Fifth Horizon’ by Nozaki Mado.