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Book review: Natsuo Kirino tackles ethics and morality in surrogacy tale Swallows
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Japanese author Natsuo Kirino's Swallows examines the legal, ethical and emotional implications of surrogacy.
PHOTOS: WAKABA NODA, CANONGATE
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By Natsuo Kirino, translated by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda
Fiction/Canongate Books/Paperback/334 pages/$29.09
The rather enigmatic one-word English title of Natsuo Kirino’s novel fails to capture the nuances of the Japanese title. First published as Tsubame Wa Modotte Konai in 2022 and made into a television series in 2024, the work’s full name is more accurately translated as The Swallows Don’t Return.
