There she stood. A goddess. I was in love with the marble goddess.

When Rika Horauchi accepts an unusual new part-time job, she never expects to fall in love.

Rika has been tasked with talking to Venus, to keep her company when the museum is closed on Mondays. As Venus comes to life in the quiet of their surroundings, she opens up new worlds for Rika, and they speak about everything. 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 love story about our perceptions of beauty, overcoming loneliness and breaking free.

Translated by Yuki Tejima

'Slim and strangely exuberant...[an] unexpected, absurd humor' New Yorker

READERS LOVE WHEN THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED:

'I quickly became addicted'
'Lyrical and enchanting'
'Filled with comedy, yet it constantly makes the reader question societal norms'
'Unlike anything I've ever read'
'Effortlessly blends the everyday with the fantastical'
'Fun, charming... if you've ever struggled with self-doubt, anxiety or just feeling like you don't quite belong you'll relate to and enjoy'

About the Author

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 follow-up to Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s bestselling memoir, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel.