The Teahouse Fire - Ellis Avery

The story of two women whose lives intersect in late 19th-century Japan, The Teahouse Fire is also a portrait of one of the most fascinating places and times in all of history--Japan as it opens its doors to the West. \nLike attending seasons of elegant tea parties--each one resplendent with character and drama. Delicious.--Maxine Hong Kingston \nThe story of two women whose lives intersect in late-nineteenth-century Japan, The Teahouse Fire is also a portrait of one of the most fascinating places and times in all of history--Japan as it opens its doors to the West. It was a period when wearing a different color kimono could make a political statement, when women stopped blackening their teeth to profess an allegiance to Western ideas, and when Japan's most mysterious rite--the tea ceremony--became not just a sacramental meal, but a ritual battlefield. \n \nWe see it all through the eyes of Aurelia, an American orphan adopted by the Shin family, proprietors of a tea ceremony school, after their daughter, Yukako, finds her hiding on their grounds. Aurelia becomes Yukako's closest companion, and they, the Shin family, and all of Japan face a time of great challenges and uncertainty. Told in an enchanting and unforgettable voice, The Teahouse Fire is a lively, provocative, and lushly detailed historical novel of epic scope and compulsive readability.\n