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The Memory Police
Series: Vintage Classics Japanese Series
Brief Description
Vintage Japanese Classics – following the success of the first chapter of the Vintage Japanese Classics series, come four new covetable editions of the best Japanese writers on the Vintage list. On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses... To the...
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The Memory Police
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Description
Vintage Japanese Classics – following the success of the first chapter of the Vintage Japanese Classics series, come four new covetable editions of the best Japanese writers on the Vintage list.
On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses...
To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river, or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed.
When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. For some reason, he doesn't forget, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next?
Vintage Japanese Classics – nine masterpieces of Japanese fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.
Beautiful... Haunting – Sunday Times
This timeless fable of control and loss feels more timely than ever – Guardian
A dreamlike story of dystopia – Jia Tolentino
What readers are saying
'I cried... cracking ending' – 5-star reader review
'I loved it!' – 5-star reader review
'A must read' – 5-star reader review
'Worth 6 stars... what a novel!' – 5-star reader review
'Dark and unsettling – a fantastic read' – 5-star reader review
Translated by Stephen Snyder
Series: Vintage Classics Japanese Series
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Pre-orderThe Memory Police
Vintage Japanese Classics – following the success of the first chapter of the Vintage Japanese Classics series, come four new covetable editions of the best Japanese writers on the Vintage list. On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses... To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can...Paperback$3500Unit price /UnavailableOut 1 Dec 2026Pre-order
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529988413
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 06 August 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Stephen Snyder
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 22.0mm
Width: 136.0mm
Height: 189.0mm
Weight: 262g
Pages: 288
About the Author
Yoko Ogawa (Author) Yoko Ogawa has won every major Japanese literary award. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, A Public Space and Zoetrope. Her works include The Diving Pool, The Housekeeper and the Professor, Hotel Iris and Revenge. Her dystopian novel, The Memory Police, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Stephen Snyder (Translator) Stephen Snyder is a translator and professor of Japanese Studies at Middlebury College, Vermont, USA. He has translated works by Kenzaburo Oe, Ryu Murakami, and Miri Yu, among others. His translation of Natsuo Kirino's Out was a finalist for the Edgar Award for best mystery novel in 2004, his translation of Yoko Ogawa's Hotel Iris was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2011 and The Memory Police was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2020.
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