Bookstore Girls by Kei Aono

Can two very different women put aside their differences to save the bookstore they love? The Japanese bestseller that kicked off a seven-book series – adapted for TV and 200,000 copies sold

Riko Nishioka is assistant manager of the flagship Pegasus bookstore in Kichijoji. After working her way up from a part-time position, she is now, aged forty, a respected figure in the Japanese publishing industry. But she has a nemesis.

Aki Kitamura, twenty-seven, has waltzed in as a full-time employee thanks to her family connections. A free spirit with a rebellious streak and a silver spoon in her mouth, she’s anything but a team player.

The two are always clashing – both at work and over their personal lives. But when Riko is given notice that the store will be closing in six months’ time, they face a stark choice.

Can they put their petty enmities aside to boost sales and save their livelihoods or will they go down fighting . . . each other?

Translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell

The Japanese bestseller that kicked off a seven-books series – adapted for TV and 200,000 copies sold. Enemies to friends set in the cut-throat Tokyo publishing scene

About the Author: Kei Aono was born in 1959 in Nagoya, Japan and studied at Tokyo Art university. After starting her career at an anime magazine, she worked as an fiction editor at a publishing company. In 2006 she made her novel debut with The Reason I Won’t Quit, and in 2014 Bookstore Woman won the Grand Prize in the “Book I want made into a movie” category at the Shizuoka Bookstore Awards.

04 Sep 2025
 

Bookstore Girls by Kei Aono ISBN 9781529446333