Divine Protection and Other Stories and Essays

A prosperous woman offers her grieving friend devoted help—and a faith that interprets illness as a spiritual trial. A quiet factory worker remembers the brief spring when travel and a marriage proposal seemed to open another life. In two closely observed stories, Miyamoto Yuriko follows kindness, power and suffering into uncomfortable territory.

The accompanying essays move through fear of bereavement, a schoolgirl’s entrance examination, the excitement of first publication and the divided demands of marriage and literary work. On a northbound train, a curious farmer exposes the reticence of university students with questions about China.

Miyamoto Yuriko, a major Japanese novelist and essayist, brings an intimate attention to both inward feeling and ordinary social encounters. These early pieces range from lyrical self-examination to sharply observed narrative, preserving the uncertainties and contradictions of lived experience.