[1] It depicts the fate of a group of young women who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and grew up as orphans on a small island inhabited by descendants of Crypto-Christians.
[2][3][4] A couple of years after the end of the Pacific War, two men arrive on a small island off Nagasaki coast.
Unbeknownst to Hatsuma, Rie was one of four orphan girls, all survivors of the bombing of Nagasaki, who arrived shortly after the war in the "House of Hands", an orphanage operated by the Catholic church.
Seiko eventually dies of her miscarriage, while Teruhide's uncle finds out about Rie's provenance, which puts an end to the couple's marriage plans.
[5] It appeared in book form the following year in the anthology Bungaku Senshu together with stories by Kenzaburō Ōe, Yōko Ōta, Yukio Mishima and others,[6][7] and in a collection of Inoue's works in 1965.