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This book has been standing on my bookshelf for so long, that I've entirely forgotten why I wanted to read it in the first place.

It has survived the journey from one apartment to another and several bookshelf purges. So many times, I've been holding it in my hands, wondering whether it had to go, or if I really wanted to read it.

For some reason, I've always kept it with me. Something that I'm now quite grateful for.

Because this was a pleasure to read. A familiar take on the almost Austenesque marriage plot; but in this case revolving around a woman with plenty of suitors, but a strict family trying to live up to what's expected of them �� and of a potential marriage.

There's drama. Scorned suitors, scolding marriage advisors, and a younger sister arranging secret meetings. All set in Japan against the backdrop of a forthcoming war.

While it was perhaps a bit too long in places, it was a bittersweet tale of a family gradually torn apart; of sisters and lovers and hope and disappointment. It was definitely worth the wait.