'Exactly what you would ask a novel to be' Spectator

In the seaside city of Kamakura, a student is drawn to an enigmatic older man who swims at the same beach. The man becomes his Sensei. Against a backdrop of the rapid modernisation of Japan, their relationship endures - until one day, the young man receives a letter that divulges the full story of his Sensei's past.

One of Japan's most admired and bestselling modern classics, Kokoro is a psychologically rich, delicately drawn meditation on loneliness, desire and duty.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Translated by Edwin McClellan.

Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) was one of Japan's most prominent novelists of the Meiji Era. After studying in England on a government scholarship, Soseki began a career at Tokyo University as a scholar of English literature before later devoting himself to his writing. He is best known for his works I Am a Cat, Kusamakura, Botchan and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1,000-yen note.

"Kokoro is exactly what you would ask a novel to be... Soseki manipulates every detail with the same thrilling mastery'" - Spectator

"Sparsely populated, simple but perfect... it is a melancholy but stoical study in loneliness" - Sunday Telegraph

"This elegant novel...suffuses the reader with a sense of old Japan" - Los Angeles Times