The Third Love

A time-bending story of love, desire, and destiny that sways between Japan’s past and its present–from a courtesan of Yoshiwara in Edo to a serving lady of the Heian period to a wife and mother in the twenty-first century–by one of our most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists

Having married her childhood sweetheart, Riko now finds herself trapped in a relationship soured by infidelity. One day, she runs into her old friend Mr Takaoka, who offers friendship, love, and an unusual escape: he teaches her the trick of living inside her dreams.

Now, each night, she sinks into another life: first as a high-ranking courtesan in the seventeenth century, and then as a serving lady to a princess in the late Middle Ages. As she experiences desire and heartbreak in the past, so Riko comes to reconsider her life as a twenty-first-century woman–as a wife, as a mother, and as a lover–and to ask herself whether, after loving her husband and loving Mr Takaoka, she is ready for her third great love.

Author: Hiromi Kawakami
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Soft Skull
Published: 10/21/2025
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9781593768058
Language: English