Beautiful Distance

“In Beautiful Distance, Nao-Cola Yamazaki untangles and illuminates, vividly and delicately, all of the unspoken emotions that exist between their characters. This novel moved me to tears.” —Hiromi Kawakami, Booker Award-shortlisted author of Strange Weather in Tokyo

From one of Japan’s most acclaimed writers comes a lyrical and poignant meditation on marriage, and the ways in which the most romantic gestures are often the quietest ones.

Before the hospital, we had often raised our hands towards one another as we’d gone through life together.

A man sits in a cafe, sipping a green juice and watching the world go by. A white butterfly flutters through the air; a calico cat jumps onto a wall; cherry blossom petals fall, softly, to the ground. Life, momentarily, stands still, as our unnamed narrator prepares to visit his terminally ill wife in hospital, and reminisces on the life they have shared together.

A prize-winning bestseller in Japan, Beautiful Distance is a profoundly affecting and intimate story that looks with honesty and tenderness at the journey towards the end of a life. It explores what family means, how we think about death, and the lasting power of small acts of love.“In Beautiful Distance, Nao-Cola Yamazaki untangles and illuminates, vividly and delicately, all of the unspoken emotions that exist between their characters. This novel moved me to tears.” —Hiromi Kawakami, Booker Award shortlisted author of Strange Weather in Tokyo

“A gem of a book—tender, devastating, and beautifully written, it speaks of the experience of caring and love in their purest forms, in a way that touched me deeply. It will stay with me for a long time." —Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls

“A celebration of the small, everyday acts of kindness that make up the greatest romances, and a testament to the power of our dearest relationships to carry us all the way from our earliest days to our very last. Readers will cry, and smile, and hold their family close.” —Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit
Nao-Cola Yamazaki (Yamazaki Nao-Cola) is a Japanese writer. They pride themselves on writing “things no one else can say in words anyone can understand”. They have won the Bungei Prize and the Shimase Award for Love Stories and been nominated multiple times for the Akutagawa Prize. 

Charlotte Goff is an Edinburgh-based literary translator. She was selected for the National Centre for Writing’s 2024 Emerging Translator Mentorship, and mentored by Polly Barton.