The Japanese writer Fumiko Enchi (1903-1951) is well known in her homeland but almost unfamiliar to the Russian reader. In her childhood, she lived in extreme poverty and, after growing up, wandered around the country for many years. The hardships did not break the girl; she studied hard, worked a lot, and achieved success — her first autobiographical novel "The Diary of a Vagabond" (1930) became a bestseller. During her short life, Fumiko Enchi wrote several novels, numerous short stories and screenplays, sent reports from war theaters in Southeast Asia to newspapers, and visited China and Europe. She received several prestigious awards, and her works were adapted for the screen multiple times. After her death, a museum was opened in the writer's house, and a bronze monument was erected in the city where she spent her childhood.
The book presented to the readers was published in Russian for the first time in 1960 and has not been reissued since. The stories included provide the most complete representation of the writer's work.
