The Woman, the Boy, and the Whale

THE MILLION-COPY JAPANESE BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE JAPAN BOOKSELLERS' AWARD
MADE INTO AN AWARD-NOMINATED FILM

"[This] beautiful bear hug of a book both broke my heart and restored my faith in humanity. A masterpiece." —Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of Jane & Dan at the End of the World

"A love letter to those who've always felt out of step with the world." —Mikki Brammer, bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover

A deeply moving story about the unexpected bond between a woman who has fled her hard Tokyo life for a seaside village and a young boy who cannot speak.

When Kiko escapes her grim life in Tokyo for a rural village by the sea, the locals can't help but question her intentions. Rumors start to fly and wariness spreads. Except nothing can be more painful than where Kiko came from. Then, one day, Kiko stumbles across a boy who cannot speak. He’s shy and timid, a little wary himself. But when Kiko shares with him the tale of the 52-hertz whale—a creature whose voice rings through the vastness of the sea, but who cannot be heard, no matter how loud it sings—the boy lets her in on his own story, revealing the moment that he stopped singing and launching them on a journey to reclaim the boy’s voice—and in the process, recover what it means to be heard.

Devastatingly tender and filled to the brim with humanity, The Woman, The Boy, and The Whale is a nuanced, heartfelt story of hope, survival, and the life-changing force of connection, and the incredible masterpiece that launched Sonoko Machida as an internationally bestselling author.