hybrid

A stunning debut novel weaves together the voices of three young women from Japan and the UK, as the threads of their lives intertwine in unexpected directions. Mei loses her Japanese mother at the age of six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she longs to fit in with her peers, repressing her heritage and her growing love for her best friend, Fran. Yuki leaves her parents' farm in rural Japan to pursue her dream of becoming a violinist. A lonely, homesick student in London finds herself caught up in the spell of her much older teacher. Haruka, a young bar hostess living in Tokyo, attempts to navigate the city's underworld and all its many vices, while grieving for her mother, from whom she kept so many secrets. Moving between these three intergenerational narratives, Mongrel unravels a tangled web of isolation, longing, love, and, ultimately, hope.