Last year, to resounding best-selling acclaim, Grove brought "Bananamania" to the United States with the publication of Kitchen, sparking a literary love affair that melted international boundaries. Now "Bananamania" continues with the publication of N.P., a novel of uncanny subtlety, style, magic, and mystery.

In Yoshimoto's story, N.P. is the title of the last collection of short stories by a celebrated Japanese writer. Written in English while he was living in Boston, the book may never see print in his native Japan: each time a new translator takes up the task, death gets in the way.

Four young people, each intimately bound to this writer and his work, are brought together by N.P. and its unsettling legacy of secrets and suicides. But with the strength of their remaining innocence, their desire to nurture, and the healing message contained in the final story, they are able to defy the devastating pull of pain and loss.

N.P. in Yoshimoto's newest, smashingly successful story of youthful passion, friendship, and resilience triumphing over grief. Masterfully bridging the gap between the joyfulness of youth and the cruel inevitabilities of sorrow and mortality, Yoshimoto's artful simplicity allows her to weave a profound and engaging tale about the nature of love and the taboos surrounding it.