An unsettling love story set in Japan and grounded on the traumas of history

“An extended exercise in what it means to attempt to describe the indescribable.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A novel about learning to acknowledge bad memories rather than hide them away.” —Foreword Reviews

An ordinary housewife finds herself haunted by visions of a mushroom cloud. She abruptly leaves her husband and son to travel alone to the city of Nagasaki, where she soon begins an affair with a young half-Russian, half-Japanese man.

Inspired by Marguerite Duras’s screenplay for “Hiroshima, Mon Amour,” this novel showcases Kashimada’s distinctive literary style and technique, and her commitment to plumbing the depths of her characters’psychology. Dealing with the travails and traumas of history, with gendered identity, with the tension between private and public selves, Love at Six Thousand Degrees is a distinctive and intriguing novel by one of Japan’s most unique contemporary authors.

Maki Kashimada
Maki Kashimada’s is a multi-award winning novelist well known for her avant-garde style. She was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Touring the Land of the Dead. She has been a follower of the Japanese Orthodox Church since high school and was married to a member of its clergy.