"A Vintage International original" -- Title page verso.

"Originally publishedin Japan as Niji Ikutabi in Fuijin Seikatsu, serialized from 1950 to 1951 and subsequently collected in The complete works of Yasunari Kawabata (v. 12) published by Shinchosha, Tokyo, in 1951' -- Title page verso.

With the Second World War only a few years in the past, and Japan still reeling from its effects, two sisters--born to the same father but different mothers--struggle to make sense of the new world in which they are coming of age. Asako, the younger, has become obsessed with locating a third sibling, while also experiencing love for the first time. While Momoko, their father's first child--haunted by the loss of her kamikaze boyfriend and their final, disturbing days together--seeks comfort in a series of unhealthy romances. And both sisters find themselves unable to outrun the legacies of their late mothers.,Back cover.