Short Synopsis
Yoko Ogawa presents an original, beautifully written story about a brilliant man who must live with only eighty minutes of short-term memory and the astute young housekeeper who cares for him.

Full Synopsis
He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem—ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.

She is an astute young Housekeeper—with a ten-year-old son—who is hired to care for the Professor.

And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor's mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities—like the Housekeeper's shoe size—and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.

Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

"Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"[A] mysterious, suspenseful, and radiant fable." ---Booklist

"This novel evokes the joy of learning, and, with its somewhat eccentric yet lovable protagonists, is a pleasure to read. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries." ---Library Journal

"Narrator Cassandra Campbell's crisp diction and soft tones suit the precision of the book and the subtle but engaging personality of the housekeeper." ---Library Journal Audio Review

Publishers Weekly Review