In 1865, nine-year-old Aurelia Caillard is taken from New York to Japan by her missionary uncle Charles while her ailing mother dies at home. Charles soon vanishes in a fire (not the one of the title), leaving Aurelia orphaned and alone in Kyoto. She is taken in by Yukako, the teenage daughter of the Shin family, master teachers of temae, or tea ceremony. Aurelia, narrating as an elderly woman, tells of living as Yukako's servant and younger sister, and how what begins as grateful puppy love for Yukako matures over years into a deeply painful unrequited obsession. Against a backdrop of a convulsively Westernizing Japan, Avery brings the conflicts of modernization into the teahouse, and into Aurelia and Yukako's beds, where jealousy over lovers threatens to tear them apart. In one memorable instance, Yukako, struggling to bring money in for the family, crosses class lines and gives temae lessons to a geisha in exchange for lessons on the shamisen, a seductive (and potentially profitable) string instrument. Eventually stuck in a painful marriage, Yukako labors to adapt the ancient tea ceremony to the changing needs of the modern world, resulting in a breathtaking confrontation. Avery, making her debut, has crafted a magisterial novel that is equal parts love story, imaginative history and bildungsroman, a story as alluring as it is powerful. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The fates of two women-one American, one Japanese-become entwined in this sweeping novel of nineteenth century Japan on the cusp of radical change and westernization.
The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl, adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter Yukako. Pasts shrouded in secrets and mysterious traditions rocked by modernization make The Teahouse Fire a compelling and provocative story, lush in details and epic in scope.
1100314778
The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl, adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter Yukako. Pasts shrouded in secrets and mysterious traditions rocked by modernization make The Teahouse Fire a compelling and provocative story, lush in details and epic in scope.
The Teahouse Fire
The fates of two women-one American, one Japanese-become entwined in this sweeping novel of nineteenth century Japan on the cusp of radical change and westernization.
The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl, adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter Yukako. Pasts shrouded in secrets and mysterious traditions rocked by modernization make The Teahouse Fire a compelling and provocative story, lush in details and epic in scope.
The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl, adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter Yukako. Pasts shrouded in secrets and mysterious traditions rocked by modernization make The Teahouse Fire a compelling and provocative story, lush in details and epic in scope.
27.97
In Stock
5
1
![The Teahouse Fire](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.11.4)
The Teahouse Fire
![The Teahouse Fire](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.11.4)
The Teahouse Fire
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Or Pay
$26.57
$27.97
27.97
In Stock
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940171677411 |
---|---|
Publisher: | HighBridge Company |
Publication date: | 12/06/2006 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Videos
![](/static/img/products/pdp/default_vid_image.gif)
From the B&N Reads Blog