A Quiet Place cover

A Quiet Place

by 松本清張

While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his wife Eiko has died of a heart attack. Eiko had a heart condition, so the news of her death wasn't totally unexpected. But the circumstances of her demise leave Tsuneo perplexed. How did it come about that his wife, who was shy and withdrawn, and only left their house twice a week to go to haiku meetings, ended up dead in a small shop in a quiet residential Tokyo neighborhood? When Tsuneo goes to apologize to the boutique owner for the trouble caused by his wife's death, he discovers the Hotel Tachibana nearby, a shady establishment known as a rendezvous for secret lovers. As he digs deeper into his wife's recent past, he must eventually conclude that she led a double life.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?