Actor-turned-writer Hanako Footman has said that writing her debut novel, now out in paperback, was “a way to make peace with being half-Japanese and half-British, collecting all the parts of myself and putting them back together”. Identity is at the heart of Mongrel, which follows the lives of three women: Mei, who loses her Japanese mother as a child and grows up in Surrey; Yuki, who leaves Japan to train as a violinist in London; and Haruka, who works as a hostess in Tokyo’s sex district. The women won my heart immediately, flaws and all, and kept a piece of it right through to the end of the novel. The intimacy of the writing style will appeal to readers of Three Women; the musings on grief and belonging will win over lovers of Crying in H Mart. And if you’re fans of both, maybe you’ll love this novel as much as I did. MG

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