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When the Museum is Closed
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  • Published: 13 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529935004
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 160
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

When the Museum is Closed

Formats & editions
Paperback
13 Oct 2026
Tr. Paperback
8 July 2025
EBook
10 July 2025
Audiobook
10 July 2025
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When Rika accepts an unusual part-time job at the museum, she never expects to fall in love with Venus herself, in the joyful new novel from the author of Japanese cult hit Diary of a Void

When Rika Horauchi accepts an unusual new part-time job, she never expects to fall in love.

Rika has been tasked with talking to Venus, to keep her company when the museum is closed on Mondays. As Venus comes to life in the quiet of their surroundings, she opens up new worlds for Rika, and they speak about everything. But when the museum’s curator, Hashibami, makes it clear he wants to keep Venus for himself, what will Rika do?

When the Museum is Closed is by turns charming, funny and surprising, a love story about our perceptions of beauty, overcoming loneliness and breaking free.
  • Published: 13 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529935004
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 160
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

Also by Emi Yagi

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Praise for When the Museum is Closed

I was captivated by Rika's strange, frozen world, filled with movement and passion - a perfectly contained and luminous story that reveals a whole world of desire and possibility, right at the heart of loneliness

Rosie Price, author of THE ORANGE ROOM

I quickly became addicted and found myself thinking about it long after I had finished

***** READER REVIEW

Filled with comedy, yet it constantly makes the reader question societal norms

***** READER REVIEW

Unlike anything I've ever read!

**** READER REVIEW

Effortlessly blends the everyday with the fantastical. A celebration of non-conformity and freedom from society’s constraints… I found it completely gripping

**** READER REVIEW

Refreshing and unpredictable. I would recommend this book to those who want a short but thought-provoking read

**** READER REVIEW

Delightful if at times unsettling, this is a book that I’m sure will stick with me

**** READER REVIEW

Strange and surreal and sad and fun all at the same time

**** READER REVIEW

Beautifully translated, lyrical and enchanting

**** READER REVIEW

A refreshing addition to the Japanese magical realism genre…This was a fun, charming little read with a totally unique plot… If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt, anxiety or just feeling like you don’t quite belong you’ll relate to and enjoy this read

**** READER REVIEW

A dreamlike take on desire, loneliness, and the transformative power of being perceived by others

Electric Literature

[Its] gentle surrealism nevertheless exposes truths about loneliness, beauty, and queer love . . . Fans of Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here will appreciate Yagi’s blend of dark humor and empathy for her characters, while the unconventional love story may appeal to fans of Sky Daddy by Kate Folk or Blob by Maggie Su

Booklist

Another surreal delight

Shelf Awareness

A fun and (metaphysical) sexy queer love story, Yagi’s latest tackles love, loneliness, and the role of women’s beauty in society

LitHub

Slim and strangely exuberant...[an] unexpected, absurd humor

New Yorker