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The Last Concubine book cover
The Last Concubine
2008
First Published
3.84
Average Rating
493
Number of Pages

Part of Series

How do you fall in love when your society has no word for it? "The Last Concubine" is an epic love story closely based on historical events, chronicling 19th century Japan's extraordinary change from a medieval to a modern country. This is the story of a shogun, a princess and the three thousand women of the women's palace - all of whom really existed - and of the civil war that brought their way of life to an end ...Japan, 1865: the women's palace in the great city of Edo is a sprawling complex much like a middle-eastern harem.Bristling with intrigue and erotic rivalries, the palace is home to three thousand women and only one man - the young shogun. Sachi, a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl, is chosen as his concubine. But Japan is changing. Black Ships have arrived from the West, bringing foreigners eager to add Japan to their colonial empires. As civil war erupts, Sachi flees for her life. Rescued by a rebel warrior, she finds unknown feelings stirring within her; but this is a world in which private passions have no place and there is not even a word for 'love'. Before she dare dream of a life with him, Sachi must unravel the mystery of her own origins - a mystery that encompasses a wrong so terrible that it threatens to destroy her ...From the timeless beauty of the Women's Palace in Edo to bloody battles fought outside its walls, "The Last Concubine" is an epic evocation of a country in revolution, and of a young woman's quest to find out who she really is. Hide
Avg Rating
3.84
Number of Ratings
3,299
5 STARS
28%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
6%
1 STARS
2%
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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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The Last Concubine