Not every story has a happy ending.

Since her brother's death, eight-year-old Egg Murakami has been living day-to-day on the family ostrich farm near Bittercreek, discovering life to be an ever-perplexing condition. Mama Murakami has curled up inside a bottle, and Papa has exiled himself to the barn with the birds. Big sister Kathy tells stories to Egg so that the world might not seem so awful.

The Murakami family is not happy. But in the hands of Tamai Kobayashi, their story becomes a drama of rare insight and virtuosity. Weighing physical, cultural, and emotional isolation against the backdrop of schoolyard battles and adult mysteries, Kobayashi paints a compelling portrait of a feisty and endearing outsider.

As Kathy's final year in high school counts down to an uncertain future, the indomitable Egg sits quiet witness to her unravelling family as she tries to find her place in a bewildering world.

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Born in Japan, raised in Canada, Tamai Kobayashi is a writer, song-writer, and videographer. She is the author of two story collections, Exile and the Heart and Quixotic Erotic, whose vivid, electric prose has garnered considerable critical acclaim. Prairie Ostrich is her first novel.

Tamai Kobayashi's profile page

“Prairie Ostrich’s unique and vulnerable characters pull the reader into their world...not an easy book to read, and the author's refusal to reassure us with pat, comfortable, happily-ever-after outcomes sets it apart, and commands respect...[it's] evocative, poetic language, and resonant, dynamic characters make it an urgent and memorable, thought-provoking work.” — National Post

“As a harrowing account of a child's (and a family's) nine tumultuous and educational months, Prairie Ostrich ably introduces an inquisitive heroine simply trying to make order from daily chaos. If that child's ultimate actions ravage her home still more, they also suggest that hope can and change can sometimes be extracted from hopeless circumstances.” — The Vancouver Sun

“Alberta's prairie landscape is brought to life with Kobayashi’s beautiful imagery and descriptive writing. Prairie Ostrich is an insightful story into the psychology of troubled families and the slow road to the recovery and re-connection of the family members. Kobayashi's characters are believable.” — The Winnipeg Review

“No wonder Tamai Kobayashi was recently awarded the Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize to a promising LGBT writer. I'd call Prairie Ostrich exceptional even if it weren't a debut novel. Kobayashi's pristine prose evokes both the Alberta terrain and Egg's emotional landscape as she makes the transition from naiveté to awareness. The author so expertly mines the metaphor of the ostrich that can never fly away, and Egg is superbly drawn, perceptive beyond her age yet young enough to be perplexed by mindless hate. Prairie Ostrich is compelling work.” — NOW Toronto

“In Prairie Ostrich, Kobayashi has drawn a compelling young character, Egg Murakami, who guides us through the fault lines and intersections of family, loss, and otherness. This novel is for anyone who has spent time on the outside, looking in.” — Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT Emerging Writers jury