The release date for the English version of 'Sputnik Sweetheart' by
Haruki Murakami is Oct 2002. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
An alternative cover is available here.
A lady seventeen years Sumire's senior is the object of her affection. However, Sumire is an aspiring writer who dressed like a character from a Jack Kerouac novel—that is, with an enormous secondhand coat and heavy boots—in contrast to Miu, who is attractive and accomplished.
Sumire converses with her closest friend K for hours over the phone, discussing important life decisions like what sexual desire is and whether or not Sumire should tell Miu that she is in love with her. K feels unsure about confessing his own unfulfilled love for Sumire in the meanwhile.
Then, from a little Greek island, a helpless Miu screams out: "Sumire has inexplicably disappeared...