A True Novel (Honkaku Shosetsu)

A True Novel is a novel published in Japan in 2002 by Minae Mizumura. The novel is a loose re-telling of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights set in post war Japan and was first serialized in the monthly literary journal Shincho. The English translation was published in two volumes in 2013 by Other Press, with a translation by Juliet Winters Carpenter. The novel was published in English as part of the Japanese Literature Publishing Project initiated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

In Long Island a teenage Minae Mizumura meets Taro Azuma, another Japanese immigrant who works as the chauffeur of one of her father's associates who, unlike Mizumura and the other immigrants she knows, is poor. Mizumura's father finds him studious and hardworking and hires him as a technician for the camera company he works for.

Over the years Mizumura and Azuma encounter each other briefly at company outings and parties. Right before she leaves high school Mizumura has a moment where she reflects that her life is full of possibility and Azuma's is not. However Azuma does eventually become extremely successful. After becoming a technician who specializes in endoscopes Azuma begins to sell them and receives increasingly large commissions. When the company tries to cut his commission percentage Azuma leaves and creates his own company.

Mizumura's family meanwhile enters a period of decline after her father is demoted and her mother leaves him for another man. She and her sister squander their education and youth. Later Mizumura manages to begin a career for herself as an academic and begins writing novels. She returns to America occasionally where she catches up with old friends and learns of Azuma's rise to success. One year she returns and discovers that he has disappeared and no one has heard anything of him.