With charmingly dry humor, these eleven stories take us inside the minds of ordinary women in Japan as they juggle life and work.

When a new acquaintance inspires more anxiety than excitement, Minori comes up with an excuse to cancel their plans. This small, seemingly harmless lie sets Minori on an unexpected path, and soon she’s offering creative solutions to the social dilemmas of her niece, her niece’s classmate, and even her own boss. At a certain point, she has to ask herself: Is all this lying worth the trouble? What if we were just honest with each other?

Struggling to overcome her bad habits with the help of an app, Ms. Iwasaki meets Ms. Nakayama, who has found a unique way to relieve stress in the employee parking lot. Ms. Kurata contends with the meanness of her younger colleagues as well as the sullen attitude of her high-school-aged son. Ms. Yokoi is responsible for organizing Mr. Maruoka’s farewell party after forty-two years of work, but where do you take a man who’s been out to drink more than two thousand times?

Shrewdly funny and deeply empathetic, Kikuko Tsumura’s stories play up the absurdities of the modern world while capturing moments of genuine emotion and connection between women at different stages of life, searching for meaning.