My year of meat - Ruth L Ozeki

'I had started my year as a documentarian. I wanted to tell the truth, to effect change, to make a difference. And up to a point, I had succeeded . . . I am haunted by all the things - big things and little things - that threaten to slip through the cracks, untold, out of history.'

As Jane Tagaki-Little researches the consumption of meat in the American home for Japanese docu-soap, 'My American Wife!', she begins to realise that her ruthless search for a story is deeply compromising her morals.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, housewife Akiko Ueno is diligently preparing the recipes from Jane's programme, struggling to please her husband, and increasingly doubting her commitment to the life she has fallen into. And as Jane and Akiko battle dangerously to assert their individuality, 'My American Wife!' draws them together in a startling story of strength, courage, love . . . and meat.