A young man in Tokyo, drifting between ambition and attachment, trying to reconcile modern life with the memory of a woman he has left behind.

Endo — best known for Silence — turns here to something more intimate. What looks, on the surface, like a romance is really a moral study. There's guilt as much as cowardice.

Endo’s particular tension is always present. Westernisation pressing against Japanese social codes, Catholic conscience against secular momentum. The drama is accumulates through many small cuts, or decisions as it were. 

First edition hardback, a solid copy for readers interested in Endo beyond his major works, or in post-war Japanese fiction that examines intimacy without sentimentality.