Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

An eclectic, eccentric and altogether brain-bending collection of short stories.

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, an ice man, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we wish for. Whether during a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami''s characters confront loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distance between those who ought to be closest of all.

''An intimate pleasure'' The Times