"'A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.' In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace--and will touch lives in ways she...

When Ruth finds a piece of debris washed up on a beach on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest she discovers the diary of sixteen-year-old Nao, living in Tokyo, who decides that death is the only escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century.