Onna no Yado is a short story by Ineko Sata that depicts the unhappiness and sorrow lying beneath women's everyday lives. Through the narrator staying at a friend's house, the social pressures surrounding women who live modestly come quietly into view.

In an ordinary night's lodging, the sorrow of women seeps through.

The End of Summer is Harumi Setouchi's dense short novel about the embers of love and parting. Around an affair with a married man, elapsed time, and bodily memory, it portrays both the intoxication and exhaustion of love with quiet tension.

In a summer that should have ended, only the memory of love keeps its heat.