Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Hardcover)

A Darkly Delicious Novel About Desire, Food, and the Women Who Refuse to Be Tamed

When journalist Rika Machida secures an interview with Manako Kajii — a woman convicted of seducing and murdering a string of wealthy men — she expects a monster. What she finds is something far more unsettling: a brilliant, unapologetic woman who believes that cooking exquisite food is the highest form of self-expression, and that a life lived without pleasure is no life at all.

As Rika becomes increasingly obsessed with Kajii and her recipes, she begins to question everything she has denied herself in the name of ambition — her appetite, her desires, her femininity. Butter by Asako Yuzuki is a rich, provocative, and utterly original novel that uses food as a lens to explore the ways women are judged, controlled, and punished for their appetites — literal and otherwise.

A phenomenon in Japan, where it sold over 200,000 copies, Butter is now available in English for the first time — and this stunning hardcover edition is the perfect way to experience it.

Book Details

• Author: Asako Yuzuki
• Translator: Polly Barton
• Publisher: HarperCollins India
• ISBN: 9780008743352
• Edition: Hardcover
• Genre: Literary Fiction / Japanese Fiction / Feminist Fiction

Why This Novel Has Captivated Readers Worldwide

• A Sunday Times bestseller and one of the most talked-about literary debuts in recent years
• Sold over 200,000 copies in Japan before its English translation
• Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024
• A gripping psychological portrait of two women and the power dynamics between them
• Filled with sumptuous, mouth-watering descriptions of Japanese cuisine that will make you want to cook
• A bold feminist exploration of appetite, ambition, and the cost of conformity
• Perfect for fans of Convenience Store Woman, Pachinko, and My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Seductive, subversive, and impossible to put down, Butter is a novel that will make you hungry — for food, for life, and for the freedom to want what you want without apology. A modern classic in the making.