About Nick Bradley: Nick Bradley is the author of THE CAT AND THE CITY (2020) and FOUR SEASONS IN JAPAN (2023). In 2024 he was chosen by The British Council and The National Centre for Writing as one of ten rising stars in UK writing. His work has so far been translated into twenty languages. 
 
 
He lived in Japan for many years where he worked as a translator, and currently teaches on the Creative Writing master's programme at the University of Cambridge and also taught on the Creative Writing Prose Fiction MA at UEA.

Nick Bradley

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A completely heartwarming novel about the power of books and connection between generations, perfect for fans of The Lost Bookshop. 
 
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE CAT AND THE CITY, A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
'Vibrant and accomplished' David Mitchell, on The Cat and the City 
‘Every book worm would love this’ Glamour 
‘A love letter to Japanese culture’ Country & Town House 
 
Flo is sick of Tokyo. 
 
Suffering from a crisis in confidence, she is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up and she's in a relationship that's run its course. 
 
That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a fellow passenger on the Tokyo Subway. 
 
From the very first page, Flo is transformed and immediately feels compelled to translate this forgotten novel, a decision which sets her on a path that will change her life. 
 
As Flo follows the characters across a year in rural Japan, through the ups and downs of the pair's burgeoning relationship, she quickly realises that she needs to venture outside the pages of the book to track down its elusive author. 
 
And, as the two protagonists reveal themselves to have more in common with her life than first meets the eye, the lines between text and translator converge, and it soon becomes clear that Flo’s journey is just beginning… 
 
 
Readers have fallen in love with Four Seasons in Japan: 
 
‘My favourite novel, a delight for lovers of Japan… Ingenious’ David Abulafia, author of The Boundless Sea 
 
‘A gentle, tender and thoughtful book …crafted in such a way that you want to savour every chapter’ Culturefly 
 
‘What a thrill to be transported to Japan… Warm, wise, and exquisitely written’ Violet Kupersmith, author of Build Your House Around My Body 
 
‘A book about a book!! So clever… so believable’ Reader review, five stars 
 
‘I savoured every line… a world and characters that are completely engrossing’ Bea Setton, author of Berlin 
 
‘Quirky, complex and compelling… two stories for the price of one’ Reader review, five stars 
 
‘What an incredibly beautiful and moving book full of warmth and wisdom!!!’ Reader review, five stars

Four Seasons in Japan

When Professor Takahashi accepts a visiting post in a quiet English university town, he imagines a year of research and solitude, hoping to close the widening gulf he feels with his teenage daughter, Kaori. Instead, he finds himself adrift: a single father far from Tokyo, struggling to comprehend this strange land which he’s long idolised. 
 
Recently, Kaori has found refuge in a new videogame: its worlds dazzling, its logic unsettling. As she plays, the borders between reality and the virtual blur, drawing her closer to a story she doesn’t yet understand. She feels disconnected from her father, and has begun to wonder if she should, instead, embark on a quest to search for her long-lost mother. Might this fix everything? 
 
Meanwhile, a trench-coated Technician navigates a futuristic cyberpunk city with his robotic sidekick cat. They inhabit a world where ordinary people have chosen to live in their fantasies over reality, but even the Technician is blind as to what fate has in store for him. 
 
And then there is Elena: a young and gifted computer scientist; brilliant, bruised and searching for connection in all the wrong places. 
 
Told across four intertwining strands – a lonely professor, his restless daughter, the game she can’t stop playing, and the woman who draws them together – The Second Life of Professor Takahashi explores the fault lines between cultures and generations. Bold and playful, it is a novel about what it means to be seen, and what it costs to reach for someone across the silence.

The Second Life of Professor Takahashi

Natsume Soseki

Discover the original Japanese Cat classic, now in a vibrant new translation by Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and the City. 
 
'I am a Cat. But I still don't have a name...' 
 
Once a stray kitten, I Am a Cat’s narrator finds himself adopted by a local scholar and thrown headfirst into the absurd upper middle-class world of Meiji-era Japan. Now a noble but somewhat world-weary observer, he has ample opportunity to dissect the strange ways and convoluted conversations of the human race. 
 
First published at the turn of the 20th century, and regarded as one of Japan’s most iconic classics, I Am a Cat is a captivating exploration of identity, society, and the often bewildering nature of the human condition—all seen through the eyes of a very special, uncompromising cat. 
 
‘A biting satire of Meiji-era Japan' Jessie Burton, Guardian 
 
‘Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature’ Haruki Murakami

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