The Kimono Mysteries at the Black Cat Vintage Shop

Where would you go if you had to start over?

Namiko Namimori is having the worst year of her life. She’s lost her job and her home and now must look to build a new life with just the clothes on her back.

She takes refuge in her grandmother’s abandoned cottage in the sleepy rural town of Kotohira. Exhausted, adrift and badly dressed, Namiko stumbles across The Black Cat vintage shop and meets Marii, its effortlessly chic owner. Marii introduces Namiko to something that will change her life all over again – the art of kimono-wearing.

The Black Cat attracts all kinds of strange and wonderful characters with surprising stories to tell: a handsome doctor with an aversion to clothes; a young mother struggling with post-partum exhaustion; and an unruly schoolgirl who has big dreams. As Namiko’s kimono collection grows, she finds herself becoming part of The Black Cat's makeshift family and is soon drawn into the poignant mystery that touches the very heart of the shop.

The Kimono Mysteries at the Black Cat Vintage Shop is a charming, funny, and surprising tale of found family and the power of fashion from Sanaka Hiiragi, the beloved author of The Lantern of Lost Memories.

Translated from the Japanese by Jordan Taylor