The Housekeeper and the Professor

Yōko Ogawa · b. 1962 · Japan

Originally Hakase no Aishita Sūshiki (Japanese) · translated by Stephen Snyder

Why it matters

A math professor whose memory lasts only eighty minutes forms a fragile bond with his housekeeper and her son through the beauty of numbers. Ogawa's tender, luminous novel of connection across forgetting.

At a glance

Gentle, simple prose and a small, tightly contained cast of characters.