Bookstore Girls A Novel

By: Kei Aono

Published by Pegasus Books, 2026-06-02

Can two very different women put aside their differences to save the bookstore they love?

The exciting Japanese bestseller is now available in America for the first time.

Riko Nishioka is assistant manager of the flagship Pegasus bookstore in Kichijoji. After working her way up from a part-time position, she is now, aged forty, a respected figure in the Japanese publishing industry. But she has a nemesis.

Aki Kitamura, twenty-seven, has waltzed in as a full-time employee thanks to her family connections. A free spirit with a rebellious streak and a silver spoon in her mouth, she's anything but a team player.

The two are always clashing—both at work and over their personal lives. But when Riko is given notice that the store will be closing in six months' time, they face a stark choice.

Can they put their petty enmities aside to boost sales and save their livelihoods or will they go down fighting . . . each other?