About the Author

Akira Yoshimura was born in 1927. He is the prize-winning, best-selling author of twenty novels and collections of short stories. He is the president of Japan's writer's union and a member of International PEN.

Reviews

* A haunting and beautifully rendered tale of enduring optimism. The Herald * Deserves to become a classic. Sunday Times * An unsettling and important book. This novel blurs any distinctions between the victor and the vanquished - Yoshimura depicts a burnt-out moral landscape, all too familiar today. Scotland on Sunday * Implacable and topical. -- Marina Warner