Out by Natsuo Kirino - ESEA July Book Club

It’s summer! ☀️ In July, we’re reading Out by Natsuo Kirino, a cult Japanese thriller about four women whose ordinary lives take an unexpected turn after a brutal crime. Often described as feminist noir, the novel features morally complex women, twisted alliances, and blurred lines between right and wrong. It plays with ideas of justice, power, and survival in unexpected ways. It's bold, tense, and totally absorbing.

Date: Sunday 20 July, 11am-1pm

Location: Elephant & Castle

About the book

In the Tokyo suburbs four women work the draining graveyard shift at a boxed-lunch factory. Burdened with chores and heavy debts and isolated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out of their dead-end lives.

A young mother among them finally cracks and strangles her philandering, gambling husband then confesses her crime to Masako, the closest of her colleagues. For reasons of her own, Masako agrees to assist her friend and seeks the help of the other co-workers to dismember and dispose of the body. The body parts are discovered, the police start asking questions, but the women have far more dangerous enemies -a yakuza connected loan shark who discovers their secret and has a business proposition, and a ruthless nightclub owner the police are convinced is guilty of the murder. He has lost everything as a result of their crime and he is out for revenge.

Out is a psychologically taut and unflinching foray into the darkest recesses of the human soul, an unsettling reminder that the desperate desire for freedom can make the most ordinary person do the unimaginable. (Penguin)

​Trigger warnings: Graphic violence, misogyny, abuse

Available from Amazon from £4.99. 528 pages.

🎟️ Tickets are non-refundable and cover facilitation and platform costs. Please consider before purchasing.

​​🤐 Spoiler alert: We encourage you to read the book before attending!

👥 Please note that this space is reserved for women, trans, non-binary, and genderqueer folk.

​We’re committed to making the book club inclusive! If you need assistance with the ticket fee, email us at eseabookclub@gmail.com. PDF copies are available (ticket purchase required first).

Book your spot here