Hunchback

Unapologetic, unashamed and unflinching. Hunchback grips the reader with its raw, fizzing, subversive energy, even as it shakes off shackles — both physical and mental. A book that moved and thrilled us. – International Booker Prize judges Hunchback is one of the boldest and most unusual books to emerge from a mainstream publisher in years. It’s a brilliant, riveting book that lets us tune into the voices we have long kept suppressed. – Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Sunday Times * A must-read debut. Funny and frank, this book lingers in the mind long after you turn the final page * BBC Books of 2025 * Gloriously transgressive. The novel asks us which is more important: access to culture or to sexual expression? And, like all good fiction, it doesn’t provide a straight answer.’ * Guardian * Written with guts and wit, Hunchback is a tender and defiant story which forces readers to think far beyond ableist concepts of who gets to desire and be desired * Best Books of 2025, AnOther Magazine * Thrillingly transgressive… a difficult, intriguingly recalcitrant, form-busting book * Daily Mail * One of the best books of 2025 * Radio Times * Hailed as one of the most important Japanese novels of the 21st century, Hunchback is a subversive and morally complex story that dismantles assumptions about disability. A difficult but revelatory read, expect Hunchback to be one of the most talked about books of the year * Foyles, Best Translated Fiction of 2025 * A remarkable and original study of yearning. Funny, lively and very touching. * Big Issue * A lithe, thrilling book — Saou’s writing is as sharp as a knife – Pandora Sykes

Saou Ichikawa (1979-) graduated from the School of Human Sciences, Waseda University. Her bestselling debut novel Hunchback won the 128th Bungakukai Prize for New Writers and the 169th Akutagawa Prize. She is the first author with a physical disability to receive the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s premier literary award. She has congenital myopathy, and uses a ventilator and an electric wheelchair.