From the author of the internationally bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, a collection of interlinking stories that masterfully blend the mundane and the mythical.

A bossy child who lives under a white cloth near a tree; a schoolgirl who keeps doll's brains in a desk drawer; an old man with two shadows, one docile and one rebellious; a diplomat no one has ever seen who goes fishing at an artificial lake no one has ever heard of. These are some of the inhabitants of People from My Neighborhood.

In their lives, details of the local and everyday--the lunch menu at

a tiny drinking place called the Love, the color and shape of the roof of the tax office--slip into accounts of duels, prophetic dreams, revolutions, and visitations from ghosts and gods. In twenty-six palm of the hand stories--fictions small

enough to fit in the palm of one's hand and brief enough to allow for dipping in and out--Hiromi Kawakami creates a universe ruled by mystery and transformation.

本书来自国际畅销书《东京怪天气》的作者川上弘美（Hiromi Kawakami），是一部相互关联的故事集，巧妙地融合了世俗和神话。

一个专横的孩子住在树旁的白布下；一个女学生把娃娃的脑子放在书桌的抽屉里；一个老人有两个影子，一个温顺，一个叛逆；一个没有人见过的外交官，在一个没有人听说过的人工湖里钓鱼。这些都是《我身边的人》中的一些居民。

在他们的生活中，当地和日常生活的细节，一个名为“爱”的小酒馆的午餐菜单，税务局屋顶的颜色和形状，都融入了决斗、预言梦、革命和鬼神来访的叙述中。在26个手掌大小的小说中，川上弘美创造了一个由神秘和变革统治的宇宙。