Description

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE DAILY MAIL AND WOMAN AND HOME
A New York Times ‘Editor’s Pick’
One of the Observer’s Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020
Shortlisted for the Author’s Club First Novel Award
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize
Longlisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger

‘Enrapturing… This richly imagined novel considers the many permutations of love and what we are capable of doing in its name’ New York Times

‘A brilliant debut’ Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard

‘You’ll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler’ Sunday Express

‘I read it with my heart in my throat’ Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton

‘An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you’ll be pressing into the hands of others’ Woman & Home

‘An intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery’ Daily Mail

‘Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut’ Stylist

A gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What’s Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman’s search for the truth about her mother’s life – and her murder.

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally “breaker-upper”), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.

When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro’s job is to do exactly that – until he does it too well.

While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko’s life.

Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What’s Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.

Publisher Review

Inspired by a real-life situation, this spellbinding tale about the marriage break-up industry in Japan has devastating consequences. * Woman & Home * A gripping, beautiful, heart-breaking debut. Stephanie Scott stuns with her considerable talent in this Tokyo-set story of a young woman who dissects another's life-that of her murdered mother-in order to find the truth about her own past -- Abigail Tarttelin Sensuous and unsettling, Scott's prose will stay with you long after the final page has been turned. Although at times a shatteringly brutal story, Scott carries the reader with great skill towards a surprisingly redemptive ending. Storytelling at its best -- Guinevere Glasfurd-Brown A formidably accomplished debut that offers a glimpse into the dark and intriguing world of the Japanese marriage breakup industry. Using multiple perspectives Scott deftly creates an impressionistic narrative in a process of slow revelation. A young lawyer seeks the truth about her mother's death and as fragments of the past emerge, through photographs and legal statements, she begins to understand the elusive nature of truth and the proximity of love and death. Part Bildungsroman, part detective story this is a deeply moving and beautifully written novel. I couldn't recommend it more highly -- EC Fremantle, author of THE POISON BED Beautiful and heartbreaking, What's Left of Me is Yours delves on the lengths one would go to protect their loved ones from the painful truth, and whether a love built on lies can still be true. Stephanie Scott's debut novel is poignant, brave, and compelling; it will stay with me for a very long time -- Clarissa Goenawan This novel is a masterpiece. In What's Left Of Me Is Yours, Scott has delivered a breathtakingly original and haunting concept in the most exquisite prose. I never wanted it to end -- Lesley Kara, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE RUMOUR A beautiful, beautiful book that defies genre - and my words. There is a crime. There is betrayal. There is love. There is history. This is truly an epic, meticulously and lovingly researched, with such exquisite description and detail that I read the same lines over, many times. There are thought-provoking observations, unforgettable characters, and heart-breaking decisions that set in motion catastrophic events. I will not forget this book for a long time -- Louise Beech, bestselling author or HOW TO BE BRAVE and I AM DUST A gripping legal thriller that digs deep into the complications of human emotion. A daughter's quest for truth and understanding surrounding the murder of her mother probes the delicate intersection of trust and betrayal, passion and loyalty, justice and compassion -- Lynne Kutsukake, author of THE TRANSLATION OF LOVE A powerful, ambitious and stunning debut. This is an extraordinary, humane and shattering story of the lies we tell to protect ourselves and others. Scott's incredible novel brims with psychological complexity, forensic research and characters shaped by unimaginable loss -- Jacie Copelton, author of A DICTIONARY OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING At once luminous and captivating, What's Left of Me is Yours is the best kind of fiction: it tells a truth. All the easy lies about love fall away, as Stephanie Scott explores its often bitter, twisting, aching core. This is a brilliant, haunting book -- Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of THE CHILD FINDER and THE BUTTERFLY GIRL Scott excels at atmospheric descriptions: the glass and light of Tokyo, the forests, snow-capped mountains and beaches beyond... a slow-burning, many-layered and powerful mystery. * THE LADY * Magnificent... What's Left of Me is Yours is all about the why, and to get there one is led elegantly through the story by the victim, Rina Sato. * STRONG WORDS * What's Left of Me is Yours is part love story, part crime novel, exploring both romantic and family relationships as it charts a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life and death. Set against a stylishly evoked backdrop of both past and present Japan, this is a beautifully written and meticulously researched novel. The illicit love story at the heart of this book is complex and unusual, but told with such insight that the deep, intense passion the couple experience almost rises from the page. This is a novel that is beautifully descriptive, unusual, and exquisitely written - a novel that is sure to stand out from the crowd A stunning debut: tragically beautiful, sensuous and haunting. Wow, just wow. * Fiona Mitchell, author of THE MAID'S ROOM * Beautifully written, atmospheric, and immersive, Stephanie Scott's What's Left of Me Is Yours tells a propulsive story about heartbreak and loss and the greatest mystery of all, family. Stephanie Scott's story of a woman's murder sweeps the reader into a world in which love is fused with betrayal and truth is locked away. Beautiful, delicate and brutal, What's Left Of Me Is Yours is difficult to put down, impossible to forget. * Marti Leimbach, bestselling author of DANIEL ISN'T TALKING * Stephanie Scott has achieved that rare thing in her debut - a literary love story that reads like an assured thriller. Compelling, moving and intense, What's Left of Me is Yours reminds us that love is never without its dark side, families are never without secrets, and the deepest loss contains a seed of hope - if it can be found Remember that new-discovery, time-stopping, every-moment-is-magical kind of love? That's what it felt like to read this novel. Then limerence turns to passion which leads to tragedy and suddenly this book is impossible to put down as you speed toward a conclusion that is as surprising as it is satisfying. * Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET * Scott poignantly evokes both a mother trapped by the choices made for her and a daughter learning to deal with her own precarious freedom. She clearly defines the unfortunate effects of the traditional Japanese legal system on women, and with carefully accumulated details describes a Japan both physically and psychologically teetering on the edge of change. * BOOKLIST * Scott deftly spins a web through modern day Tokyo in this captivating dual-perspective rendering of a young woman determined to find out the truth behind her mother's murder. * NEWSWEEK * Exhilarating... Byzantine subplots, distinctive characters, and atmospheric settings will leave readers spellbound. * PUBLISHER WEEKLY * This hotly tipped debut examines the hidden human dramas behind Japan's murky marriage break-up industry, with the dead woman reclaimed as a vivacious, loving mother trapped in an unhappy marriage... lovely. * DAILY MAIL * Inspired by a real life situation, this spellbinding story set against the marriage break-up industry in Japan has devastating consequences you almost forget about, so immersed are you in the character's lives... An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you'll be pressing into the hands of others. * WOMAN & HOME * Scott delivers a delicately nuanced account of a complex tragedy rooted in the clash between illicit desire and the obligations of duty. -- Declan Burke * IRISH TIMES * This slow-burning novel tells a story of love, betrayal and lies. * MAIL ON SUNDAY * [Scott] weaves in fascinating explanations of the legal system... the world she creates in What's Left of Me Is Yours feels very sure under foot: deeply researched, but delicately described. Scott gives a clear sense of place and time, from contemporary Tokyo to evocations of seaside holiday cabins and shrines in forests... she braids her different characters' timelines together with sophistication, her storytelling harmoniously well-constructed. The big questions over whether it's better to lie or to tell a difficult truth, and what might constitute a betrayal, are layered across generations and decades and there is strength in the subtlety with which Scott slowly unpacks them. * THE OBSERVER * This incredible debut is one you'll be pressing into the hands of others... it's an exquisite read. * WOMAN'S WEEKLY * The wealth of detail about life in Japan is truly fascinating... you'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler. * SUNDAY EXPRESS * Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut. * Stylist, Best Books April 2020 * A brilliant debut. * Louise Doughty, #1 bestselling author of APPLE TREE YARD and PLATFORM SEVEN * I loved What's Left of Me Is Yours. Gripping, heartbreaking, immersive. I read it with my heart in my throat. * Sara Collins, author of THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANNIE LANGTON *