Canongate’s The Myths Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| A Short History of Myth | 2004 | Buy |
| The Myths | 2005 | N/A |
| Lion’s Honey: The Myth of Samson | 2005 | Buy |
| The Penelopiad | 2005 | Buy |
| The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur | 2005 | N/A |
| Weight | 2005 | Buy |
| Lion’s Honey | 2005 | N/A |
| The Helmet of Horror | 2005 | Buy |
| Where Three Roads Meet | 2005 | Buy |
| Dream Angus | 2006 | N/A |
| Anna In w grobowcach świata | 2006 | N/A |
| Baba Yaga Laid an Egg | 2007 | Buy |
| Binu and the Great Wall | 2006 | Buy |
| The Goddess Chronicle | 2013 | Buy |
| Where Three Roads Meet: The Myth of Oedipus | 2005 | N/A |
| O Conto da Deusa | 2008 | N/A |
| Orphans of Eldorado | 2008 | N/A |
| The Hurricane Party | 2007 | N/A |
| The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ | 2009 | N/A |
| Ragnarök | 2011 | N/A |
| The Song of King Gesar | 2013 | N/A |
Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Out | 2003 | Buy |
| Grotesque | 2007 | Buy |
| Real World | 2008 | Buy |
| Koizora | 2022 | Buy |
| Swallows | 2025 | Buy |
Kirino made her name with Out, a novel about four women working the night shift at a factory who become entangled in a murder. The book was a commercial and critical success in Japan and, after translation, brought her international recognition. It’s a crime novel, but the real subject is how ordinary women survive in a society that gives them very little room to maneuver.
Her subsequent work, including Grotesque and Real World, continued in a similar vein. These are not comfortable books. Kirino is interested in desperation, resentment, and the social conditions that produce both. She also contributed The Goddess Chronicle to the Canongate Myths series, a retelling of a Japanese creation myth.