Penguin Michael Joseph has the “charming and affirming” The Amberlow Candy Store on Night Alley by award-winning author Hiyoko Kurisu, a fabulous novel originally written and published in Japanese.

Senior editor Madeleine Woodfield acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, from Bruno Onuki Reynell of New River Literary on behalf of Kohei Hattori of the English Agency and Poplar. The translation is by Matt Treyvaud, with publication scheduled for November 2025.

North American rights were sold to Putnam, a Penguin Random House company in the US, which pre-ordered the novel within 24 hours. Rights were sold in a total of eleven countries, including pre-order rights in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Turkey and Poland.

The blurb reads: “With echoes of ‘Spirited Away’, The Amberlow Candy Store on Night Alley is a captivating, cozy fantasy novel that teaches readers valuable life lessons through the characters’ interactions with Kogetsu, a half-fox shopkeeper who sells traditional wagashi sweets to his customers, and who himself gains new insights and reveals his own backstory the more you read.”

Woodfield said: “I knew I had to publish The Amberlow Candy Store on Night Alley the minute it landed in my inbox. The novel is wonderfully charming and full of empowering life wisdom. It’s the perfect read to transport you to a new place and make the world seem a little brighter. I can’t wait to bring Kogetsu and Hiyoko’s wonderful writing to the English-speaking world for the first time and it’s so exciting for the Penguin Michael Joseph list to expand our roster of translated fiction.”

Kurisu said: “I hope that this nighttime alley inhabited by mysterious creatures will also appeal to readers in the UK. Let yourself be warmed by the mysterious experiences there.”

In May, industry figures showed The bookseller how interest in “healing fiction” grew through Japanese and Korean literature.