“Mitch Wieland, always an original, has found unaccustomed depth in the teen romance that frames a father’s search for a runaway child, and achieved a remarkable blend of American and Japanese modes of storytelling.”
Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Soul’s Rising, finalist for the National Book Award
“The Ghosts of Okuma is the story of a quest, a brother’s devotion and a son’s cherished duty, but it is mainly a poem to the kind of innocent passion life only offers once. To turn away from this story of hope and grief and adventure, by one of our most talented writers, you would have to have a heart of stone.”
Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and The Birdwatcher
“The novel's quirky heroine is both tour guide to an underside of Tokyo and a savant capable of unbraiding human emotion. Tragic and empowering, The Ghosts of Okuma delivers on multiple levels, as rare as a perfectly executed snow angel following a winter dusting.”
Ridley Pearson, author of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, The Risk Agent, and Undercurrents
“A feat of storytelling, at once a mystery, a love story and a clear-eyed meditation on the human condition. Mitch Wieland has written a novel that is vibrant, lyrical and devastatingly true.”
Brady Udall, author of The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint and The Lonely Polygamist
“A broken family tries to piece itself back together on a wild journey that takes us from California to the neon-lit maze of Tokyo to the irradiated wasteland of Fukushima. The Ghosts of Okuma is a story of healing told with quirky humor, compelling mystery, and moving insight into the human heart.”
Benjamin Percy, author of The Ninth Metal, Red Moon, Suicide Woods, and Thrill Me
“From the authenticity of the characters to the wonderment and beautiful intricacies of the world around them, we’re transformed by the ride. Heroes like this impact us far beyond the back cover.”
Marion Dayre, screenwriter for Better Call Saul and showrunner for Echo
“By turns comic and tragic, Mitch Wieland’s The Ghosts of Okuma is a sharply-written and brilliantly-paced novel . . . Funny, charming, infused with tenderness—a pure pleasure to read.”
Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Powerful, and at times playful, The Ghosts of Okuma suggests that our vulnerabilities are a beginning, rather than an end, once we remove our masks.”
Ann Beattie, author of The New Yorker Stories and Park City, Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, PEN/Malamud Award winner
“Wieland’s haunted teen-aged lovers are both wildly funny and pierced by yearnings everyone in our crumbling world will recognize.”
Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever, winner of the National Book Award
“This novel is a wild ride, and it leaves you breathless."
Charles Baxter, author of Feast of Love, finalist for the National Book Award, and PEN/Faulkner and PEN/Malamud Award winner
“Mitch Wieland’s vivid, unsparing prose conjures a Tokyo of snow and light, loss and belonging. Reminiscent of Kobo Abe’s The Ruined Map and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale For The Time Being, this haunting story lingers like frostbite—quietly transformative, achingly real, and unforgettable.”
Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice and Tokyo Noir
“I loved this book. Part mystery, part coming of age, part quest story of a stranger in a strange land, this stark and lyric tale resonates as coolly and beautifully and darkly as the temple bell at Chion-In. What happens when Wyatt and his father—and, in a way, his mother too—seek their missing sister and daughter in Japan is haunting in ways that last, and matter. Read this book.”
Bret Lott, author of Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and A Dream of Old Leaves
the ghosts of okuma
Coming in 2026
Early Praise for the ghosts of okuma
PRAISE FOR WILLY SLATER’S LANE
“Through the brevity born of perfectly chosen words, and through the pervasive intimations of hope, Wieland transforms this story of lives on the edge of ordinary into a psalm.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Transcendent portrait . . . spellbinding.”
Booklist (starred review)
“Immensely moving.”
The New York Times Book Review
“Mitch Wieland writes with fearless wonder, a piercing sense of loss, and the resilient grace of humor.”
Melanie Rae Thon, author of Sweet Hearts
“Mitch Wieland’s stories have great breadth, powerful sympathies, and a renewing comprehension of our human selves which we only find in the best literature.”
Richard Ford, author of Independence Day, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Mitch Wieland, one of our country’s best magazine editors, shows where he gets his know-how—he’s a keen creator of fine stories, and makes characters out of sentences all of us should envy.”
Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered