The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest

In stories of exquisite compression, Japanese-Argentine writer Alejandra Kamiya conjures absences, shadows and all that must remain unsaid.

12 haunting, uniquely crafted short stories about loss and memory from a revered Japanese-Argentine author, available in English for the first time.

“Her stories are a transformative experience... Kamiya makes simple what for others is impossible to express.” —Clarín

In 12 stories of exquisite compression and perfectly-formed images, Japanese-Argentine writer Alejandra Kamiya conjures absences, shadows, and all that must remain unsaid.

As dawn breaks, a woman goes to the market in search of ingredients to make a perfect breakfast for her husband and son, while a subtle note of disquiet grows louder. A Japanese prisoner of war resolutely obeys a command as precise as it is inexplicable: he must dig a pit in a precise location until he receives another command, which never seems to arrive. 2 girls discover themselves through electrically charged games, which they will recall in letters for the rest of their lives.

In prose that is at once serene and shot through with disquiet and mourning, Kamiya creates a fictional world with its own rhythm, where preice, minimal phrasing reveals vast emotional landscapes. Enigmatic yet sharply clear, The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest is a book of quietly shattering epiphanies from a unique voice in international fiction.

Revered in Argentina, where her diamond-sharp stories are championed by a legion of booksellers and readers, Kamiya has a strikingly clear and subtle style that will delight fans of Claire Keegan, Yuko Tsushima and Yiyun Li.