The Third Lady's Realm Bookclub Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa - Winter Edition ❄️

​The Lady's Realm Bookclub — Winter Edition
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

​Yesterday we had our very fist bookclub - and it was so lovely, there is something about talking about books that makes you open up and consider things in your life you don't often do. Pretty magical.

​This book only has only 97 pages, but it packs a punch. It taught me so much about ableism and the privilege you have if your body just works. The book was long-listed for the International Booker Prize in 2025. It's a ride!

​From the inside flap:

​"Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka Isawa has severe spine curvature and uses an electric wheelchair and ventilator. Within the limits of her care home, her life is lived online: she studies, she tweets indignantly, she posts outrageous stories on an erotica website. One day, a new male carer reveals he has read it all – the sex, the provocation, the dirt. Her response? An indecent proposal…

Written by the first disabled author to win Japan’s most prestigious literary award and acclaimed instantly as one of the most important Japanese novels of the twenty-first century, Hunchback is an extraordinary, thrilling glimpse into the desire and darkness of a woman placed at humanity’s edge."

​So bring your copy, bring your thoughts, bring the questions the ending left you with. We'll talk art and ambition, love and longing, and what it really means to look — and to be looked at.

​Come as you are. All women welcome.

​What to bring: Your copy of the book (finished or nearly!) and an open mind.

​Reading before we meet: Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

​Image: Lisa Brice, Untitled, 2019, gouache and tempera on canvas, 202.6 x 97.4 x 4.6cm. Collection of Tate, presented by Harry and Lana David, 2020. Image courtesy of the artist. Photograph: Mark Blower