Sono Ayako is, along with End Shusaku, one of a handful of Japanese writers who are practicing Catholics and who have brought a Catholic consciousness into their literature. However, the majority of her works deal with ordinary human situations, devoid of religious didacticism. She writes about a wide variety of human concerns, about people of diverse environments, professions, and problems. The real magnet that attracts readers to Sono's literature is the spiritual strength, wisdom, and humanity that have steadily grown in her writing during her almost forty-year career. Her literature marks impressive transformations at various stages of her life; it bears signs of her rebellions, protestations, questioning suffering, resignation, revelations, and finally positive acceptance of life, human beings, and God. Ultimately, her ontological question deals with how human beings should live, how they should treat each other. Such heavy rubrics are made approachable by her outstanding talent for...