Original title:
白鳥とコウモリ
Original language:
Japanese
Publication info:
Gentosha
7 April 2021
523 pages
Genre:
Upmarket mystery
Rights handled by New River:
Foreign rights excl. Asia
Rights sold:
China (Thinkingdom)
France (Actes Sud)
Indonesia (PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama)
Italy (Piemme)
Korea (HyundaeMunhak)
Poland (Relacja)
Spain (Ediciones B)
Taiwan (Crown)
Thailand (Book Time)
Vietnam (Nha Nam)
WEL (Minotaur Books)
Swan and Bat
by Keigo Higashino
250,000 copies sold in Japan since publication; a bestseller in Korea!
Opening with the mysterious murder of a kind-hearted lawyer and slowly leading to a hastily shelved murder case 30 years ago, Swan and Bat tells a rich multi-decade and multi-generational story that brings us to the lives of different families and the evolution of Japanese society. Brilliantly crafted with an intricate plot, the novel, like the author's other titles, is not only unputdownable, but also delves into the complexity of social issues (the dark sides of the Japanese society, victim participation in trial, the statute of limitations) and, above all, the complexity of human nature (the ambiguity of 'perpetrator' and 'victim', of 'good' and 'evil'). Higashino, once again, proves to be a master of socially oriented mystery fiction. A homage to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and reminiscent of Journey Under the Midnight Sun, and The Devotion of Suspect X, the novel's richness and excellence make it a leading title in Higashino's growing oeuvre.
About the author
Born in Osaka and currently living in Tokyo, Keigo Higashino is one of the most widely known and bestselling novelists in Japan. He is the winner of the Edogawa Rampo Prize (for best mystery), the Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc. Prize (for best mystery) among others. His novels have been translated into more than twenty languages in the world.