An extract from Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated by Polly Barton
A literary phenomenon in Japan, Hunchback is an extraordinary and thrilling debut novel about sex, disability and power
A literary phenomenon in Japan, Hunchback is an extraordinary and thrilling debut novel about sex, disability and power
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 21st century, Hunchback is an extraordinary, thrilling glimpse into the desire and darkness of a woman placed at humanity’s edge.
Polly Barton
About the Translator
Polly Barton is a literary translator and writerThis unashamed, unflinching and subversive novel defiantly dismantles assumptions about disability and desire
— The 2025 judges on Hunchback
What the judges said
‘Who is permitted to feel – and be – desired? Saou Ichikawa’s short, razor-sharp novel – exquisitely distilled into English by Polly Barton – features a protagonist with disabilities who lives in a care home near Tokyo. Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka Isawa has severe spinal curvature, and uses an electric wheelchair and ventilator. She is, as the cool kids would say, ‘very online’ – tweeting passionately and posting erotic stories – and her anxieties range from the existential to the sexual. A provocative and powerful indictment of ableism and sexism, this unapologetic, unashamed and unflinching novel defiantly dismantles societal and moral assumptions about disability as it leans into pleasures of the body. In around a hundred pages, Hunchback grips the reader with its raw, fizzing, subversive energy, even as it shakes off shackles — both physical and mental. A book that moved and thrilled us.’
What the critics said
Camilla Grudova, The Guardian
‘Ichikawa uses the vantage point of her disability for a particular insight into human nature, but we mustn’t condescend to call this novella autobiographical. Its structure – beginning and ending with a story, the latter possibly written by the narrator, possibly not – would tease us if we do.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Ichikawa has crafted an unforgettable character in Shaka, who is mordantly funny and disarmingly blunt, and who critiques ableism sharply: “Japan…works on the understanding that disabled people don’t exist within society, so there are no such proactive considerations made. Able-bodied Japanese people have likely never even imagined a hunchbacked monster struggling to read a physical book.” The novel delivers with a fever-dream ending that Ichikawa pulls off beautifully. Some readers might be shocked by this brave novel; others might find themselves interrogating their own ableism. This is an absolutely stunning debut. Audacious, insightful, bold, and—with its critique of ableism—necessary.’
Elizabeth McKenzie, The New York Times
‘The concept of ressentiment — a festering state of envy and hostility projected onto those perceived to have it better — hovers over “Hunchback,” with tremendous irony and wit…“Hunchback” won Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2023 and has been translated with all due edge and verve by Polly Barton. It’s unforgettable.’
Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Sunday Times
’Hunchback is one of the boldest and most unusual books to emerge from a mainstream publisher in years. It’s a brilliant, riveting book that lets us tune into the voices we have long kept suppressed.’
AnOther Magazine
‘Written with guts and wit, Hunchback is a tender and defiant story which forces readers to think far beyond ableist concepts of who gets to desire and be desired.’
Saou Ichikawa on Hunchback
‘Hunchback is the latest in a long line of narratives about disabled people written throughout history. I wrote it out of a wish to capture the truths about life as a disabled person that hadn’t been written about in those previous works, and which most people are oblivious to.
‘I wrote it in a month-long spurt, and sent it to the publisher. I didn’t do any research for the book, but I drew upon years of personal experience, and the history of disabled people that I studied at university helped me, too. I was conscious that it was special in the sense that I knew Shaka was a protagonist of a kind that hadn’t been written before.’
Read the full interview here.
Polly Barton on Hunchback
‘There are books whose urgency barely needs to be articulated because it’s so evident within the work itself, and Hunchback seemed to me like one of those: it burns itself right into the mind of the reader. It’s a cinematic work, that conjures up a dense and vivid world with very little, so the language needed a lot of honing, to make sure that it was hitting all of those imagistic notes in the way that they needed to. I’d say the principal narrative voice came to me quite quickly and intuitively, but there are lots of shifts of register within the span of the book, which took quite a lot of time and attention to capture.’
Read the full interview here.
