Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has written many bestselling books and his 2002 fantasy Kafka On The Shore is one of the most successful, winning the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2006 after it was translated into English in 2005.

Now Kafka On The Shore is getting The Folio Society treatment with a brand new illustrated edition of the novel, freshly introduced by Haruki Murakami himself!

The book follows two plot paths and two characters: Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home to escape an oedipal prophecy and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that he cannot fathom.

Murakami created a dream-like world in Kafka On The Shore where cats can talk and soldiers live in a forest unaging from World War II. So it’s only apt that this new edition follows the same surreal vibe with Colombian artist Daniel Liévano’s stunning artwork, motifs and binding design.

From its trippy slipcase in striking blue with an eye-shaped oval at its centre leading to a mesmerising cover design, The Folio Society really has taken Murakami’s world to a new level. Inside, that fantastical journey continues to the bold, red inside cover, the cute little red motifs at the end of each chapter and Liévano’s dazzling colour illustrations littered throughout.

Check out some images from the book here…

This edition also includes an introduction by Murakami who remembers how the novel started off with a simple plan to write a story about a 15-year-old boy, which then progressed to that title: “But why Kafka on the Shore?” he asks himself in the introduction. “I really don’t know. I can’t explain it.

“But one day that phrase hit me out of the blue, like in comic books when a light bulb flashes over a character’s head…”

The Folio Society edition of Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, translated by Philip Gabriel, including a new introduction by the author and illustrations by Daniel Liévano, is available exclusively from www.foliosociety.com

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