Amo, an African kidnapped to Europe as a boy, and Tamao, a Japanese exchange student in Germany, live in different countries but are being followed by the same shadow; Kazuko, a young professional tourist, is lured to Vietnam by a mysterious postcard; on the Canary Islands, a nameless translator battles a banana grove and a series of Saint Georges...

These three tales by master storyteller Yoko Tawada cross cultures and histories with a sensuous playfulness. In Facing the Bridge, obsession becomes delight as the reader is whisked into a world where identities flicker and shift in a never-ending balance.