This article originally appeared on HarperReach.com, and is reblogged here with permission.
Dear Reader,
It is a great thrill to share Hooked, my new novel in English translated by the brilliant Polly Barton. I am so grateful to you for your amazing support of Butter. I am now truly excited for you to read Hooked.
Hooked is a novel about friendship and obsession, about loneliness and desire, and about the experiences of women when it comes to work, love and fulfillment.
It follows Eriko, whose life appears to be perfect, but beneath her flawless surface she is terribly lonely. She becomes unhealthily obsessed with a housewife blogger named Shoko, who seems her messy opposite.
After Eriko contrives a meeting, they strike up an adoring friendship, but it is only a matter of time before things start to sour and both their lives are turned upside down.
If there is one thing that I want people to take away from this book, it is the importance of friendship. There are many people that we lose touch with over the course of our lives, for all kinds of reasons. If you read this book and think of a particular person whose friendship meant something to you but who you no longer see, then I would encourage you to get in touch with them. It is never too late to reach out to an old friend.
The success of Butter was beyond my wildest dreams, and I will remain thankful for that forever. I hope you will enjoy Hooked.
— Asako Yuzuki
Hooked window display @ ABC Amsterdam, March 2026
