A lover, her daughter and an abandoned wife: three women write letters revealing the tragic aftermath of a forbidden love affair. Saiko is beautiful, sophisticated - and disloyal to her cousin and closest friend. Midori, forsaken by her husband, takes a silent vengeance. And Shoko, Saiko's daughter, is left to make sense of family secrets. In this masterpiece of mid-century Japanese fiction, Inoue weaves together conflicting perspectives to tell a single story of love, death, truth and longing.