The Letter

Letters (Japanese title Tegami) is a full-length novel by Keigo Higashino published in 2003; the Chinese edition was translated by Zhao Jiang. The story begins with two brothers who depend on each other: their parents died young, and the elder brother, Takeshi Mushima, barely makes a living through odd jobs. To raise tuition for his gifted younger brother, Naoki Mushima, he breaks into a house, is discovered by the elderly woman inside, panics, and kills her; he is then imprisoned. It is the elder brother who commits the crime, but it is the innocent younger brother who bears the consequences. From then on the two can only communicate by letter, and the family letters sent from behind prison walls become a heavy shackle on Naoki's life: school, job hunting, romance, starting a family—each time life begins to improve, the identity of 'the murderer's brother' is exposed, and society pushes him away once again. Naoki's feelings toward his brother shift from longing and guilt to resentment; at one point he even moves house and conceals his whereabouts, hoping to cut all ties. The novel contains almost no mystery element; its focus is the question: should a person pay for a relative's crime? Is society's rejection of criminals' families legitimate self-protection, or another form of violence? The book is solidly written and has the flavor of both a coming-of-age novel and a family-ethics novel. Many researchers regard it as a pivotal, culminating work in Higashino's career; it was shortlisted for the Naoki Prize and has been adapted multiple times for film, television, and the stage.