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Madame Sadayakko book cover
Madame Sadayakko
The Geisha Who Bewitched the West
2003
First Published
3.61
Average Rating
336
Number of Pages
The author of Women of the Pleasure Quarters shares the story of the famous geisha whose life inspired Puccini's Madame Butterfly, from her training and participation in secret geisha traditions to her defection from her lucrative career to marry the penniless actor and political maverick Otojiro Kawakami and her rise to international celebrity. 25,000 first printing.
Avg Rating
3.61
Number of Ratings
653
5 STARS
22%
4 STARS
31%
3 STARS
35%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
3%
goodreads

Author

Lesley Downer
Lesley Downer
Author · 11 books

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.

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