In this extraordinary stand-alone novel, the authors and translator of Vita Nostra return with a story about creation, music, and companionship filled with their hallmark elements of subtle magic and fantasy.
Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave.
A game of cat-and-mouse has begun.
Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother. Confused and wary, Aspirin knows one thing: he wants her out of his apartment and his life. Yet every attempt to get rid of her is thwarted by an unusual protector: her plush teddy bear that may just transform into a fearsome monster.
Alyona tells Aspirin that if he would just allow her do her work, she'll leave him - and this world. He can then return to the shallow life he led before her. But as outside forces begin to coalesce, threatening to finally separate them, Aspirin makes a startling discovery about himself and this ethereal, eerie child.



![Kawaguchi, Toshikazu & Trousselot, Geoffrey Fiction in Translation Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, 1) [2019] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/kawaguchi-toshikazu-trousselot-geoffrey-toshikazu-kawaguchi-before-the-coffee-gets-cold-before-the-coffee-gets-cold-1-2019-paperback-57197187727699_{width}x.jpg?v=1726461663)
![Yuzuki, Asako Fiction in Translation Yuzuki Asako: Butter [2024] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/yuzuki-asako-yuzuki-asako-butter-2024-paperback-57196664455507_{width}x.jpg?v=1728994653)
![Harpman, Jacqueline & Schwartz, Ros & Mackintosh, Sophie Fiction in Translation Jacqueline Harpman: I Who Have Never Known Men [2019] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/harpman-jacqueline-schwartz-ros-mackintosh-sophie-jacqueline-harpman-i-who-have-never-known-men-2019-paperback-57178242679123_{width}x.jpg?v=1748872917)
![Allende, Isabel Fiction in Translation Isabel Allende: The Wind Knows My Name [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/allende-isabel-isabel-allende-the-wind-knows-my-name-2023-paperback-57037996032339_{width}x.jpg?v=1727227395)
![Ferrante, Elena & Goldstein, Ann Fiction in Translation Elena Ferrante: My Brilliant Friend: childhood, adolescence (Neapolitan Quartet) [2020] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/ferrante-elena-goldstein-ann-elena-ferrante-my-brilliant-friend-childhood-adolescence-neapolitan-quartet-2020-paperback-60045847265619_{width}x.jpg?v=1731559980)