Daikichi Terauchi's Naoki Prize-winning work explores faith and worldliness, lives that stray from the norm, and the inner life of Buddhist figures, turning religious material into a deeply human drama.

In those who stray from the path of faith, the work finds human weakness and the possibility of salvation.

A socially minded mystery centered on an attempted murder at a charitable clinic in Osaka, depicting the scars of postwar society and human desire. As the investigation proceeds, the pasts of the suspects around a morally compromised obstetrician come to light.

The shadows of war and the burdens of human desire intertwine in a rundown hospital.