When documentary maker Jane Takagi-Little finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show that just happens to be sponsored by an American meat-exporting business, she uncovers some unsavoury truths about love, fertility, and a dangerous hormone called DES. Soon she will also cross paths with Akiko Ueno, a beleaguered Japanese housewife struggling to escape her overbearing husband. And the battle with 'big beef' will be on in earnest.

Ruth Ozeki's much-loved debut novel, winner of the Kirayama Prize for Literature of the Pacific Rim, represents the entertaining face of ecological activism. It will delight fans of Michael Pollan, Margaret Atwood and Barbara Kingsolver.