NATIONAL BESTSELLER A suspenseful magical realism novel about a mysterious teenage “go-between” who arranges meetings between the living and the dead, from multimillion-copy Japanese bestselling author Mizuki Tsujimura. I bring together the living and the departed. I am the go-between. When a young woman from Tokyo contacts the go-between to request a meeting with a deceased TV star who once helped her, she doesn’t expect a teenage boy to show up. Dressed in a designer duffel coat and carrying a tattered notebook, Ayumi Shibuya offers an extraordinary service: he reunites the living with their dearly departed. Meeting his clients at a luxury hotel, Ayumi lays down the ground rules: each reunion is a one-time arrangement that the dead can refuse, the service is entirely free, and the meeting must take place during a full moon. As Ayumi arranges these reunions, we encounter a resentful eldest son who wants to ask his mother to unearth the deeds to a plot of land, a teenage girl who blames herself for her best friend’s death, and a weary businessman seeking answers about his fiancée’s disappearance days after he proposed. Already a multimillion-copy bestseller in Japan, Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon is storytelling at its finest. Captivating, cozy, and compulsively readable, this is an unforgettable page-turner in which the living and the dead are given one last chance for closure. One of BookRiot ’s “11 Most Sensational New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of August” One of Gizmodo ’s “80 New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books Arriving in August” One of Ms. Magazine ’s “Best New August Reads” An AV Club “10 New Books to read in August” "A fireside tale that looks at how and why the living are haunted by the dead… Tsujimura’s profound insights into ordinary lives and motivations – and how the dead might ease the minds of the living – make this a ghostly little masterpiece.” — Wall Street Journal “Displaying a matter-of-fact approach to the fantastical that recalls early Haruki Murakami, Tsujimura’s novel is an enchanting read.” — Financial Times “Tsujimura raises poignant and powerful questions about what the living owe not only the dead, but each other; and how we make peace with others and ourselves in the wake of overwhelming grief. A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.” — Kirkus “The newest novel by Tsujimura, translated from Japanese, has a clear premise, clear prose, and offers fascinating complexity that unfolds through five, rich chapters.... Readers who enjoy piecing together mysteries and thinking about big questions will love this satisfying tale, with a sequel promised.” — Booklist “A resonating read…utterly priceless.” — Shelf Awareness “Delightful.” — AV Club “A beautifully written novel about hope and kindness.” — The Big Issue “I devoured this book. I'm amazed by how gentle and warm it is, and at the same time how it holds such fascinating puzzles and hard truths. All the pieces fit together beautifully.” —Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning Mizuki Tsujimura is a bestselling Japanese author whose books have sold over 10 million copies. Several of her books have been made into high-profile Japanese-language films and manga. Loved by booksellers and readers alike, she has won both the Japan Booksellers’ award and the more literary Naoki Prize. Chapter 1: The Rule of the Idol 1 THE RULE OF THE IDOL AS THE WIND was blowing, I pulled the collar of my coat tighter. Dropping my eyes from the sky, I noticed a boy standing beside me on the tree-lined street that until now had been totally empty. “Manami Hirase?” Surprised to hear my name, my reply got caught in my throat. I tried to say, “Yes, that’s me,” but instead took a sharp breath, causing the boy to step back. I’d never got off the train before at this station on the Toei Shinjuku Line. Exit three, as I was told. The fast-food restaurant beside the station exit was dark, maybe because there were too few customers in a business district on a Sunday. It was also the only real landmark in the area. I’d been watching cars whiz past on the main road for a while now. Wait, when did he get here? “Yes, that’s me…” I’d been waiting in this spot for the past half hour. But the person I’d been on the lookout for, the person I imagined I’d be meeting today, was much older. I looked closely at the boy. I thought for a moment that he might have brought somebody with him, but he appeared to be alone. Was he about high-school age? He held a tattered notebook in one hand, and had the air of a cool, hip kid. His hair wasn’t dyed, and he had no piercings, but something about his face and build made him seem more refined than the boys from my own high-school days. He was lean and tall. His navy duffel coat was lined with chic checkered material at the cuffs and hood and had leather patches on the shoulders. It loo