In the sparse, lyrical style of a classic pillow book, Miss Gone-overseas chronicles a wartime life that doesn't focus on guns, bombs or military depredations, but on the pedestrian life of a lower-class Japanese woman as she reflects on the turmoil around her. Meiko, a mountain village girl in an unfortunate marriage, is sold to brokers who resell her to a big city brothel. One commercial brothel then sells her to another and she finds herself on...