Koko won't do what is expected of her. Defying her family's wishes, she has brought up her eleven-year-old daughter alone in her apartment. And now, after a casual affair, she is unexpectedly pregnant again. What will this mean for her already troubled relationship with her daughter? As she faces the future, memories of her own childhood loss flood into her consciousness, threatening to overwhelm her.

'A terrific novel' Angela Carter

Translated by Geraldine Harcourt

"A classic novel as relevant today as when it was published nearly 40 years ago . . . at once powerfully uplifting and achingly sad, Geraldine Harcourt's elegant translation captures Tsushima's poignant wisdom on the female struggle with societal expectations." - Japan Times

"depicts the multiple layers of a woman's consciousness, her fears and longings, her willingness to endure suffering yet resistance to pressures to conform." - The Mountain is Moving