Boundless Press | Breasts and Eggs: A Novel

How it Works Bookshop

Publishing Team Contact

Breasts and Eggs: A Novel

Mieko Kawakami

Sam Bett

David Boyd

Save to Your Books

Amazon

100% of affiliate revenue supports Boundless Press

A BEST BOOK OF 2020

TIME Magazine・The New York Times・Book Riot

The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan’s most important contemporary novelist, WINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE.

On a sweltering summer day, Makiko travels from Osaka to Tokyo, where her sister Natsu lives. She is in the company of her daughter, Midoriko, who has lately grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with adolescence.

The story of these three women reunited in a working-class neighborhood of Tokyo is told through the gaze of Natsu—thirty years old, an aspiring writer, haunted by hardships endured in her youth. Over the course of their few days together in the capital, Midoriko’s silence will prove a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and family secrets.

On yet another blistering summer’s day eight years later, Natsu, during a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.

One of Japan’s most important and best-selling writers, Mieko Kawakami mixes stylistic inventiveness, wry humor, and riveting emotional depth to tell a story of contemporary womanhood in Japan. Breasts and Eggs recounts the intimate journeys of three women on the path to finding peace and futures they can call their own.

“Original and deeply moving…This book is a gift.”—Laura van den Berg

Get the Bindery app

Posts about this title from Boundless Press

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Apr 30

AAPI Asian Heritage Month Book Recs

watch for some recs to read in May!

14 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Oct 2 2025

it's my birthday! here are 28 books that have shaped my life 🫶🏾

open for book recs <3

28 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Mar 19 2025

if you like this book, read this one! 🩷 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 📚

hope you enjoy these recommendations 💖

24 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Mar 16 2025

books set around the WORLD that you need to read asap 🌍

book recs for this month's reading challenge to read books set outside of north america!!

23 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Dec 31 2024

my top 10 favourite books of 2024 ✨ best books of 2024 🎉

My favourite video to make every year—let me know know your top 10 favourite books of the year 💖

🔒 Join my Bindery community for the extended version of this video where I share my TOP 11-20 BOOKS OF 2024: https://boundless.binderybooks.com/

🍉 Palestine / Gaza fundraiser: https://secure.everyaction.com/-73MDOq2iUetglwT5-jUMw2 Thousands of authors boycott https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-cultural-institutions/ Full letter + list of signatories: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KzLMsjcs2Qla--qqzsfJ8iJdHN-nABGdCcYWRcqSyIA/edit?tab=t.0

Pre-order DUST SETTLES NORTH by Deena ElGenaidi! 📕 Preorder campaign: bit.ly/DustSettlesNorthPreorder 📗 Bookshop.org https://bookshop.org/p/books/dust-settles-north-deena-elgenaidi/21660445?ean=9781964721163 📘 Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dust-settles-north-deena-elgenaidi/1146012296?ean=9781964721163 📙 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Settles-North-Deena-ElGenaidi/dp/1964721164?tag=thisstoryai04-20 📓 Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216539793-dust-settles-north?from\_search=true&from\_srp=true&qid=A2tCltxUzB&rank=1

links 📕 instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisstoryaintover/ 📘 twitter: https://twitter.com/jananiekvelu 📗 tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisstoryaintover 📓 substack: https://jananiekvelu.substack.com/ 📙 goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/thisstoryaintover 🗣️ discord community: https://discord.gg/RQjq5yNHTA 🔖 Fable book club: https://fable.co/club/boundless-book-club-with-jananie-k-velu-111751962292

💌 business/sponsorship inquiries: tamara@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 anything else: thisstoryaintover@gmail.com

faqs 📇 how do you pronounce your name? JEN-nuh-nee (like a knee!)

sub count: 📊 101,821

10 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Sep 5 2024

brat summer is over... so let's talk about the books i read 🤠 | a summer reading wrapup

let me know what you read this summer!!!

11 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jul 8 2024

If you like this, read this book! BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

19 books

Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • May 20 2024

[Hello loves! I hope you’re having a wonderful start to your week! We had a long weekend here in Canada so I’m just getting back into things today.\ \ \ \ What’s going on with me:\ \ So I’ve finally admitted to myself that I have too many things going on and need to let something go. In this case it’s cooking!\ \ I have been saying that I’ll do more meal prep for months but each week comes and I’m still struggling to find food to eat or am forgetting to buy groceries on time.\ \ Solution? I’m going to try a meal plan service that makes pre-made meals and ships them to me at the start of each week. Let me know if any of you have tried this before! I’m a little wary but will report back on what I think.\ \ \ \ How I’m doing ~ mentally ~\ \ I had a really rough few days mentally because I missed a dose of my bipolar medication on Wednesday night. You would think that a single dose wouldn’t make much difference but alas the mood swings and depression came through in full force. Although I had taken the day off on Thursday & Friday so that I could do some YouTube work, I ended up being a pile of sadness instead which was not fun lol.\ \ I’m doing better now but this whole affair just reminded me of how every day is a battle when you have a mental illness.\ \ \ \ What I’m working on this week:\ \ I recently bought a new camera that I’d been eyeing for awhile and I’ve been testing it out for the past week. Although I filmed my Asian Heritage Month book recs video with it, I’m still deciding whether I want to refilm it with different settings. Regardless, stay tuned for a new look in my videos!\ \ Upcoming videos:\ \

My favourite books by Asian authors (recommendation video for Asian Heritage Month / AAPI month)\
Mood read with me | a realistic reading week with me\
Queer/LGBTQIAP+ book recs\
A Special Announcement 👀\ \ \ \ What I’m currently reading:\ \
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami — I cannot express how much I love this book already. It taps into so many feelings I have around being a woman, having a womb, and being expected to structure my life around getting married and having kids. Highly recommend checking it out!\
Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel — I’m a third into this one with the audiobook and am loving it! It really feels like an old tale being told to me and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story goes.\ \ \ \ What I’m watching:\ \ I think the missed dose and bad mental health had a factor into this but I’m only 2 episodes into Bridgerton season 3 🙈Yes, I know—seems odd for me since I really love the series but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to watch while I was suffering mentally.\ \ Hopefully I can get the chance to finish the next two episodes soon! If you’ve watched the new season let me know what you thought of it!\ \ ](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/CX5hagUKMDN8TDPEixZU/)

05.20.24 - journal update #9

open for this week's journal update!

2 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery