Summary

The novel opens in England during an unspecified year, although the setting is likely approximately contemporary with the year that the novel was published. Etsuko, the protagonist and narrator, is a Japanese woman who now lives in England. She is married to an Englishman, who is her second husband. Etsuko’s older daughter, Keiko, was born over twenty years ago. The father was Etsuko’s first husband, a Japanese man. Keiko has recently committed suicide. Etsuko still does not know why Keiko killed herself. Etsuko’s second child, her daughter Niki, is in her twenties. She was fathered by Etsuko’s second husband. (Although not explicitly stated in the novel, Etsuko’s second husband appears to now be either deceased or divorced from Etsuko.) Niki lives in London, but following Keiko’s death, Niki has come to visit Etsuko in Etsuko’s home in...