When the Museum is Closed Emi Yagi 9781787304642

A quirky, joyful queer love story about a lonely museum worker who falls in love with a statue of Venus

'Filled with movement and passion - a luminous story that reveals a whole world of desire and possibility, right at the heart of loneliness' Rosie Price, author of THE ORANGE ROOM

Rika Horauchi's new part-time job is to converse with a statue of Venus - in Latin - every Monday, when the museum is closed.

Initially reluctant, Rika starts to enjoy her strange new job. Recommended by her old university professor for her exemplary language skills, Rika leads an otherwise unassuming life, working the rest of the week in a frozen-food warehouse.

As Venus comes to life in the quiet of the museum, they talk about everything. Venus opens up new worlds for Rika, both intellectually and emotionally. They soon fall in love. But when the museum's curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do?

When the Museum is Closed is by turns charming, funny and surprising, a surreal take on our most real emotions and concerns: love, loneliness, freedom, perceptions of beauty and how women are seen in society. A joyful queer love story, this fresh and original new novel confirms Emi Yagi as one of the most exciting Japanese writers published in English today.

Translated by Yuki Tejima

Praise for Diary of a Void

'Incredibly thought-provoking... you'll love Yagi's writing' STYLIST

'A subversive, surreal read that will strike a cord' RED

'Endlessly strange, funny and meaningful' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'A book that reflects on life, solitude and what it means to be a woman' FINANCIAL TIMES

Emi Yagi (Author)
Emi Yagi is an editor at a women's magazine in Japan. She was born in 1988 and lives in Tokyo. Her first novel and international cult hit, Diary of a Void, won the Osamu Dazai Prize, awarded annually to the best debut work of fiction.

Yuki Tejima (Translator)
Yuki Tejima is the translator of Mizuki Tsujimura's Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon and How to Hold Someone in Your Heart, Kumi Kimura's Someone to Watch Over You, and the sequel to Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's bestselling memoir, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window 2. She moved from the US to Tokyo, where she now lives.