2017 Authors' Club Best First Novel Award
2017 Betty Trask Prize (nominee)
2017 Desmond Elliott Prize (nominee)
“Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s debut is a beautifully textured novel, befitting the story of an artist.” —Washington Post
Written in startlingly beautiful prose, Harmless Like You is set across New York, Connecticut, and Berlin. At its heart is Yuki Oyama, a Japanese girl fighting to make it as an artist, and her struggle with her decision to leave her two-year-old son, Jay. As an adult, Jay sets out to find his mother and confront her abandonment.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Written in startlingly beautiful prose, Harmless Like You is set across New York, Connecticut, and Berlin. At its heart is Yuki Oyama, a Japanese girl fighting to make it as an artist, and her struggle with her decision to leave her two-year-old son, Jay. As an adult, Jay sets out to find his mother and confront her abandonment.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's passionate, gorgeously-written debut novel investigates harmlessness and harm, power and vulnerability, free will and fate." - Ellis Avery
"With kaleidoscopic prose and characters all too human, HARMLESS LIKE YOU is an unforgettable debut, as rich in darkness and light as it is in color." - Chloe Benjamin
"Sublime - calm, profound, beautifully controlled and with startling splashes of colour." - Chris Cleave
"This brilliant debut novel by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is cause for celebration." - Lorrie Moore
"What a beautiful book. So measured and confident for a debut - really impressive stuff." - Emma Jane Unsworth
"With kaleidoscopic prose and characters all too human, HARMLESS LIKE YOU is an unforgettable debut, as rich in darkness and light as it is in color." - Chloe Benjamin
"Sublime - calm, profound, beautifully controlled and with startling splashes of colour." - Chris Cleave
"This brilliant debut novel by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is cause for celebration." - Lorrie Moore
"What a beautiful book. So measured and confident for a debut - really impressive stuff." - Emma Jane Unsworth
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Used availability for Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's Harmless Like You