In a secluded cabin she has borrowed from a friend, a misanthropic artist spends the winter tweezing small pieces of paper and looking after a pack of wild white dogs. One day, when she ventures into the nearby town to stock up on groceries, she hears some disturbing rumors—something about a dog and a kid who’s gone missing. Where did the dogs come from? How long have they been with her? And what do they do when they go running off into the woods? Yukiko Motoya is a novelist, playwright and stage director. She has won several literary awards in her home country of Japan, including the Kenzaburo Oe Prize for the story collection Arashi no pikunikku (The Devil’s Picnic) and the Yukio Mishima Prize for Jibun o suki ni naru hōhō (How to Like Yourself). Her stories have appeared in Granta and on the Words Without Borders website.