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Available in January "Suzanne Kamata touches a nerve, something that may be too painful for some to read. In Losing Kei, she tells the tale of a young mother far from home fighting to regain a son lost permanently due to divorce. In Japan, divorce represents the severing of two “ie,” or households. If there are children, they almost always are awarded to the mother. The children will henceforth have nothing to do with their father; he is literally “dead” to them. (A very public example is the case of former Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi, whose now grown children did not see him for more than a decade following his divorce.) In the case in which the mother is foreign, however, custody is nearly always awarded to the father—and the mother is now the one who no longer exists. Shared custody or visitation rights remain unheard of. Jill Parker is a painter living in rural Japan, an American woman far from home. To support her art she works as a bar hostess. It is in this seedy setting in which she meets Yusuke, an art gallery owner. This leads to marriage, which in this world—Yusuke is the eldest son—is fraught with duty and guilt and submission for the erstwhile artist Jill. Yusuke must uphold the “ie,” and the roles assigned to all within are clearly and rigidly defined. Jill is placed below and at the mercy of Yusuke’s mother. In spite of the birth of a son, the greatest prize, the marriage cannot succeed. Jill ultimately must choose between abandoning her son and life, freedom. The first ten pages are painful to read. Jill is waiting in a park for a glimpse of her son on his way home from school. Even this small act of defiance—and tenderness—is utterly crushed. She is supposed to be “dead,” and is failing to uphold that illusion. Nothing is lost in translation in Losing Kei. Kamata knows whereof she writes. A very impressive work." --Japan Visitor		Available Now A Selection of the Writer's Digest Book Club A "Best Book of the Year for Writers" Selection —The Writer Magazine Available Now “Pagan Kennedy charges into the future with impressive dexterity…" —New York Times Book Review "Give this book to your friends and they'll be way more interesting to talk to afterward." —San Francisco Bay Guardian "Delicious" —Publishers Weekly "Super-cool." —The Boston Globe Available Now " Like Go Ask Alice, this tell-all tells much about what it sometimes takes to survive. Welcomed as voyeurs, readers are given an insider's look into the subculture created by the smart and talented who arrive in L.A. with big dreams and wind up with big addictions." --Publishers Weekly
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Welcome! We are the new owners of Leapfrog Press, Lisa and Michael Graziano. We are both writers of fiction and science who are passionate about books, and we are honored to be continuing Leapfrog Press's tradition of publishing fine books. Please browse our Web site to see our available titles and upcoming titles for 2008.