About the author

Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children’s and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than five decades. In Japan, her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children’s literature awards. Her books have also been animated as the films The Wonderland and The House of the Lost on the Cape, among others, and her 1975 novel The Village Beyond the Mist—published in English in 2025—inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. Her novel Temple Alley Summer, illustrated by Miho Satake and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa, won the American Library Association’s 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, and her novel The House of the Lost on the Cape, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa and illustrated by Yukiko Saito, was named a 2024 Batchelder Honor Book. She lives in Morioka, Iwate.

The Village Beyond the Mist

by Sachiko Kashiwaba

“Kashiwaba’s novel is indeed transporting. . . . Pick up this book and be spirited away.” — Gregory Maguire, The New York Times

From the bestselling, Batchelder Award-winning author and translator of Temple Alley Summer and The House of the Lost on the Cape comes the fantastic adventure that first inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved film, Spirited Away.

Lina’s father had suggested she go “someplace different” for the summer, and she’s beginning to wish she hadn’t listened. She could be at her grandma’s house in Nagano now, instead of trudging through a forest in search of a town that might not even exist. But when a gust of wind carries off her umbrella, it leads Lina down a secret path between the trees to a strange and incredible world. In the hidden village of Misty Valley, centaurs roam the cobblestone streets and gnomes visit shops stuffed with spellbooks and enchanted desserts. All magic has a dark side, though, and sometimes even sorcerers need a human’s helping hand.

Now, fifty years after its debut and decades of blockbuster success in Japan, Sachiko Kashiwaba’s acclaimed novel is available in English and certain to delight readers of all ages.