Asako Yuzuki was born in Tokyo in 1981.She won the All Yomimono Award for NewWriters for her story ‘Forget Me Not Bluewhich appeared in her debut Shuuten NoAnoko published in 2010. She won theYamamoto Shūgorō Award in 2015 for NilePerch No Joshikai. She has been nominatedmultiple times for the Naoko Prize and her novels have been adapted for televisionradio and film.
<p>WINNER OF WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 <span style="font-size: 1rem;">A BBC 'BETWEEN THE COVERS' BOOK CLUB PICK </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">'Compelling delightfully weird often uncomfortable' PANDORA SYKES </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">'Unputdownable breathtakingly original' ERIN KELLY </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">'I have been glued to Asako Yuzuki's new novel Butter’ NIGEL SLATER </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">‘A fullfat Michelinstarred treat’ THE SUNDAY TIMES </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">intent on cracking her case inspired by a true story and translated by Polly Barton. </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine. </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">businessmen who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press entertaining no visitors. </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">resist writing back. </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Rika the only woman in her news office works late each night rarely cooking more than ramen. As </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii they are closer to a masterclass in food than </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats something is awakening in her body might </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought? </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer "The Konkatsu Killer" Asako </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid unsettling exploration of misogyny obsession romance and the </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.</span></p>
