[1] Her intention in writing the book, as said through the protagonist Etsu-bō, was to clarify the secret that was hidden from people in the East and the West:[1] Years passed, and Etsu-bō, the little girl who had listened to the story of the black ships and the red barbarians, herself went sailing on a black ship that moved without sails, to a new home in the distant land of the red barbarians.

[1][4] A niece of Etsu's so-called "American mother", Florence Mills Wilson, had rewritten the manuscript prior to it being sent to publishers.

Dorothy E. Guttmacher, writing for the Baltimore Sun, compared her with Joseph Conrad, stating her style displayed both "vividness and charm.

[8] Richard G. Hubler for the Los Angeles Times described it as "a charming curtsy in print.

[1] It has been described as a "transnational feminist" novel which examines the lives of both Japanese and white women in the early 20th century.