First published 2025
Suguro carries the weight of his parents' divorce and years of separation from his mother. As an aspiring novelist in Japan, he decides he must understand who she truly was. He begins following the path she once walked, visiting places she knew, speaking to people who remembered her. Each step forward brings him closer to answers he both craves and fears. The search becomes a confrontation with his own pain and fury. Five additional stories explore the complexities of mothers, children, and the sacred bonds between them. Endō reveals how the longing for maternal love shapes us, sometimes across great distances and through profound loss.
Genres: fiction, family, literary-criticism, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: confronting-the-past, search-for-identity
Setting: Japan
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
224 pages · Paperback · Yale University Press