Overview

From one of our finest chroniclers of Japan, its history, society and culture - the acclaimed author of Geisha - comes this gripping and richly detailed new historical novel, telling the true story of Princess Atsu and her struggle to save Japan. The year is 1853, and a young Japanese girl's world is about to be turned upside down. When black ships carrying barbarians arrive on the shores of Japan, the Satsuma clan's way of life is threatened. But it's not just the samurai who must come together to fight- the beautiful, headstrong Okatsu is also given a new destiny by her feudal lord - to save the realm. Armed only with a new name, Princess Atsu, as she is now known, journeys to the women's palace of Edo Castle, a place so secret it cannot be marked on any map. Behind the palace's immaculate fa ade, amid rumours of murder and whispers of ghosts, Atsu must uncover the secret of the man whose fate, it seems, is irrevocably linked to hers - the shogun himself - if she is to rescue her people . . .

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Reviews

It is completely absorbing, showing Lesley Downer's deep knowledge of Japan and her mastery of its complex history during the nineteenth century. LIAN HEARN, author of Across the Nightingale Floor A persuasive storyteller and the setting is mesmerising. -- Antonia Senior THE TIMES Superb. A wonderful evocation of an alien world, with entrancing characters and a riveting narrative that fits perfectly with the historical facts. -- JOHN MAN, author of Genghis Khan Lesley Downer has pulled off a remarkable achievement in making the beautiful, strange and dangerous world of one woman in a 19th-century Japan facing Western invasion utterly believable, and utterly gripping. VANORA BENNETT, author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman Atsu is what we all want to be: a courageous woman of heartbreaking intelligence... set against our own darkest selves. This tale of western imperialism has so many resonances in the modern world, written with passion, depth and brilliance, and a sense of time and place that is earning Lesley Downer a reputation as the Shogun's Writer for the twenty first century. MANDA SCOTT, bestselling author of the Boudica novels

It is completely absorbing, showing Lesley Downer's deep knowledge of Japan and her mastery of its complex history during the nineteenth century. LIAN HEARN, author of Across the Nightingale Floor A persuasive storyteller and the setting is mesmerising. -- Antonia Senior THE TIMES Lesley Downer has pulled off a remarkable achievement in making the beautiful, strange and dangerous world of one woman in a 19th-century Japan facing Western invasion utterly believable, and utterly gripping. VANORA BENNETT, author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman Atsu is what we all want to be: a courageous woman of heartbreaking intelligence... set against our own darkest selves. This tale of western imperialism has so many resonances in the modern world, written with passion, depth and brilliance, and a sense of time and place that is earning Lesley Downer a reputation as the Shogun's Writer for the twenty first century. MANDA SCOTT, bestselling author of the Boudica novels What a wonderful storyteller Lesley Downer is, and what an amazing story she tells in The Shogun's Queen. Set at a pivotal moment in Japan's history, her novel effortlessly transported me to nineteenth century Japan. At its heart is Okatsu, Downer's heroine for all seasons, plus a vivid cast of characters - some loyal, some treacherous - all caught up in the turbulent politics of the time. I was only sorry to reach the end of this gripping and deeply suspenseful novel. MARGOT LIVESEY, author of The House on Fortune Street

It is completely absorbing, showing Lesley Downer's deep knowledge of Japan and her mastery of its complex history during the nineteenth century. * LIAN HEARN, author of Across the Nightingale Floor * A persuasive storyteller and the setting is mesmerising. -- Antonia Senior * THE TIMES * Superb. A wonderful evocation of an alien world, with entrancing characters and a riveting narrative that fits perfectly with the historical facts. -- JOHN MAN, author of Genghis Khan Lesley Downer has pulled off a remarkable achievement in making the beautiful, strange and dangerous world of one woman in a 19th-century Japan facing Western invasion utterly believable, and utterly gripping. * VANORA BENNETT, author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman * Atsu is what we all want to be: a courageous woman of heartbreaking intelligence... set against our own darkest selves. This tale of western imperialism has so many resonances in the modern world, written with passion, depth and brilliance, and a sense of time and place that is earning Lesley Downer a reputation as the Shogun's Writer for the twenty first century. * MANDA SCOTT, bestselling author of the Boudica novels *

It is completely absorbing, showing Lesley Downer's deep knowledge of Japan and her mastery of its complex history during the nineteenth century. * LIAN HEARN, author of Across the Nightingale Floor * A persuasive storyteller and the setting is mesmerising. -- Antonia Senior * THE TIMES * Superb. A wonderful evocation of an alien world, with entrancing characters and a riveting narrative that fits perfectly with the historical facts. -- JOHN MAN, author of Genghis Khan Lesley Downer has pulled off a remarkable achievement in making the beautiful, strange and dangerous world of one woman in a 19th-century Japan facing Western invasion utterly believable, and utterly gripping. * VANORA BENNETT, author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman * Atsu is what we all want to be: a courageous woman of heartbreaking intelligence… set against our own darkest selves. This tale of western imperialism has so many resonances in the modern world, written with passion, depth and brilliance, and a sense of time and place that is earning Lesley Downer a reputation as the Shogun’s Writer for the twenty first century. * MANDA SCOTT, bestselling author of the Boudica novels *

Author Information

Lesley Downer's mother was Chinese and her father a professor of Chinese, so she grew up in a house full of books on Asia. But it was Japan, not China, that proved the more alluring, and she lived there for some fifteen years. She has written many books about the country and its culture, including Geisha- The Secret History of a Vanishing World, and Madame Sadayakko- The Geisha who Seduced the West, and has presented television programmes on Japan for Channel 4, the BBC and NHK. She lives in London with her husband, the author Arthur I. Miller, and still makes sure she goes to Japan every year.

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