Haruki Murakami's 'The Strange Library' will be published in English this December

English-speaking fans of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami had to wait a long time to get their hands on a copy of Murakami’s newest novel “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”. But it will be a much shorter wait for the author's next English-language release.

Murakami’s novel “The Strange Library” will be published by Knopf in English on Dec. 2, according to the Guardian. The book, which was released in 2008 in Japanese has been translated by Ted Goossen. Its story centers on a boy who is captured by an elderly man who makes him memorize portions of books. The boy tries to escape with the aid of a man wearing a sheep costume and a young girl. “Library” is 96 pages long, according to The New York Times. 

The English-language version of the story will include new text and illustrations. “The Strange Library” is “as scary and surprising as anything [Murakami] has ever written,” Knopf’s chairman and editor in chief Sonny Mehta said in a statement.

Murakami’s book “Colorless,” which was released in English on Aug. 12, is currently ranked at number one on the The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list for the week of Sept. 7.