Survive, live with every ounce of your being.
The beliefs you hold should never be determined by others.

From the Islamic Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power in Iran, to the religious clashes between Muslims and Christians in Egypt to the Kobe earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in Japan, Kanako Nishi’s monumental novel follows a Japanese family in their desperate search for something to believe in.

At the age of thirty-seven, protagonist and narrator Ayumu Akutsu looks back at his life, his birth in Tehran and formative years in Cairo, retracing his relationship with his elder sister, her adjustment difficulties and their effect on parents Kentaro and Naoko. In 2011, as the Mubarak regime crumbles in Egypt and Japan is hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami, Ayumu returns to Cairo and finds in his long lost Egyptian friend, Yakub, the key for a brighter outlook on the future.

Beloved by young readers for her forthright portrayals of contemporary alienation, author Kanako Nishi has poured her all into a narrative that skillfully echoes her own life journey.