“The Reason Why She Married Me” (Tsuma ga Boku wo Eranda Riyu) by Kyuzo Tanaka is a mysterious suspense novel of love and hate, weaving a tale around a wealthy, beautiful woman harboring a secret she cannot tell even her husband, and the ordinary man she chose as her partner.
The story begins with Hiroshi, a Japanese man who found employment while studying abroad. Out of nowhere, Mary, the daughter of a major pharmaceutical tycoon, proposes to him, and the two begin their married life. At first glance, it seems like a Cinderella story of marrying into wealth. However, the wife hides a massive secret that she can never reveal to her husband, triggering an unpredictable chain of events.
An ordinary man marries a wealthy, beautiful woman—but she has a secret she can never tell him.
After finding a job during his studies abroad, Hiroshi is suddenly courted by Mary, the heiress to a pharmaceutical empire, and the two eventually marry. On a whim of Mary’s, they sell their new home and move to the “Geo-Commune,” a subarctic settlement aiming for a return to primitive communism. There, Mary reigns as a “Queen,” heading out to hunt moose and muskoxen with the other men, while Hiroshi stays behind in the village, spending his days entirely alone fishing. Though their married life is bizarre, Hiroshi believes their relationship will continue this way forever without falling apart.
However, Hiroshi’s life begins to spiral into chaos when several figures emerge: Eric, Mary’s former fiancé and the scion of a major grain conglomerate; Natasha, Hiroshi’s ex-girlfriend who is now a freelance journalist; and Michael, a genius hacker and Hiroshi’s friend from his university days.