Two prostitutes have been murdered in Tokyo. Twenty years previously both women were educated at an elite school for young ladies, and both exhibited exceptional promise prior to their brutal , unnecessary deaths. How and why did this tragedy occur? With narration from one of the victim's embittered, unattractive sister and through the girls' journals and diaries Kirino allows their shocking story to unfurl. Kirino's analysis of the female psyche grips the reader. The extreme need to succeed, and the vicious desire to be accepted in the bewildering environment of modern life is explored here with acute and chilling insight.