
I write historical fiction set in Japan - women’s untold stories, largely true and based on meticulous and detailed research, though primarily, of course, good yarns. I’ve just finished The Shogun’s Queen, the fourth of The Shogun Quartet, four novels set in the nineteenth century during the tumultuous fifteen years when Japan was convulsed by civil war and transformed from rule by the shoguns into a society that looked to the west. Preorder: http://bit.ly/TheShogunsQueen The second, The Last Concubine, was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year 2009 and translated into 30 languages. The other two novels are The Courtesan and the Samurai and The Samurai’s Daughter. My non-fiction on Japan includes Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction and Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West. I’m also a journalist and travel writer, give lectures and teach Creative Writing at City University in London.
Series
Books

A Geisha for the American Consul
2012

Across a Bridge of Dreams
2012

The Last Concubine
2008

Women of the Pleasure Quarters
The Secret History of the Geisha
2000

At the Japanese Table
New and Traditional Recipes
1994

Madame Sadayakko
The Geisha Who Bewitched the West
2003

The Shortest History of Japan
From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse―The Global Drama of an Ancient Island Nation
2024

On the Narrow Road
2013

The Courtesan and the Samurai
2010

The Brothers
1994

The Shogun's Queen
2016