In Lizard, Yoshimoto deftly fuses traditional and pop culture to create contemporary portraits of love and life. These six tales explore themes of time, healing, and fate—and the journeys of self-discovery through which young urbanites come to terms with them.

In “Newlywed,” an unhappily married young man deliberately misses his stop on the train, only to be questioned by a shape-shifting homeless man about the trials of his marriage. In “Blood and Water,” a woman recalls how she left the village she grew up in—which was run by a New Age cult—in order to lead a fulfilling life, even against her parents’ wishes. And in the title story, “Lizard,” a woman who has never before felt truly secure in her life admits a deep secret to her lover—that she has the ability to heal others with her mind.