In this books, what matters is not what happens, but what is endured.

Centred on a married couple who have retreated from social life after a morally ambiguous past decision, the novel unfolds through routine, silence, and reflection rather than plot. 

Often read alongside Sōseki’s later works, it's less satirical than Kokoro, less comic than I Am a Cat, more it's own thing. A precise, melancholy book about guilt, responsibility, and the cost of choosing peace over confrontation.