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Lesley Downer
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Publisher | Bantam | ||
ISBN | 978-059305793 | ||
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Reviewer
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Ann
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Synopsis
Japan, 1868: the last shogun has been defeated, the age of the emperors is about to begin - and in Japan's frozen north a diehard band of loyalists plans a desperate last stand. Hana is just seventeen when her husband goes to war, leaving her alone and very vulnerable. When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees for her life across the shattered city of Tokyo and takes refuge in the Yoshiwara, its famous pleasure quarter. There she is sold into a brothel and forced to train as a courtesan. Yozo, a traveller, adventurer and brilliant swordsman, returns to Japan after six years in the Victorian West to discover that the world he left behind him has been destroyed. Travelling north to join his rebel comrades, he is captured during their final battle. Escaping, he makes his way south to the only place where a man is beyond the reach of the law - the Yoshiwara. There in the Nightless City where three thousand courtesans mingle with geishas and jesters, the battered fugitive meets the beautiful courtesan. But each has a secret so terrible that once revealed it will threaten not only their union - but their very lives...
Review
This is a great book, well written, entertaining and informative. Inspired by actual events, it is a love story set in Japan in the 1860s, when the country was emerging from isolation and suffering from civil war.
Through the main male character Yozo, recently returned from Europe with a massive battleship ordered by the shogun, we are introduced to the conflict and politics between the Imperial forces in the south and the shoguns of the north. The female lead is Hana, fleeing for her life from the northerners into the Yoshiwara, the Nightless City of courtesans and brothels.
As one would expect from the author of the Last Concubine, the research shows in the fascinating wealth of historical detail in all aspects of the lives depicted. While the characters are believable, many and varied, and the plot generally goes on apace, I found the finale slightly unbelievable.
However, a good read and recommended.
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