Saou Ichikawa’s curious Hunchback has already been a smash in her native Japan. Ichikawa is disabled and has written a bold, transgressive novel about a woman with a congenital muscle disorder who relies on a wheelchair and a ventilator.
Shaka’s life online however is busy and brazen – she is a furious tweeter and posts scurrilous sexy stories on an erotica website. Her persona is exposed when a new male carer reveals he has read all of her work – her response is as audacious as her writing.
Hunchback is a delightful and unexpected combination of, yes, soft porn and human tenderness, the more fanciful Shaka’s imagined stories, the more acutely realised the extreme limitations of her life; she hasn’t walked outside for 37 years. This is a remarkable and original study of yearning. Funny, lively and very touching.
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa is out on 6 March (Penguin, £10.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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