The stories selected for this collection include the author's novella A View by the Sea, which was awarded both the Mombusho and Noma literary prizes. Five other short stories represent the best of Yasuoka's writing from the 1950s and 1960s.

"Yasuoka s venal, youthful first-person narrators grasp at beauty and romance amid a changing Japan in these nine stories, all published in Japan in the early 1950s . . . Tyler s translation captures Yasuoka s effortless style, registering dark but delightful impressions of youth." Publishers Weekly