A walled city that can only be entered by those who leave their own shadow behind. This is where the true self of the girl lives, with whom the nameless narrator falls madly in love at the age of 17. He sets off in search of her, enters the city and its mysterious library, but the girl no longer recognizes him. Under mysterious circumstances the narrator returns to the world beyond the wall. He moves to Tokyo, works on the book trade and has changing girlfriends. The memory of the girl in the wall city won’t let him go. Eventually he resigns and takes a job in an old library in Fukushima. Reality begins to crunch and the narrator has to ask himself what binds him to this world.

Haruki Murakami

The City and its Uncertain Walls