A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Tokyo who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnantWhen thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace, she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ dirty cups―because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant.Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. She’s finally being treated by her colleagues as more than a hollow core―like the cardboard tubes for paper towel and toilet paper rolls that her company manufactures. But she has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Before long,
