The Teahouse Fire
I finished my 50th book for 2008, and just in time, too!
#50: The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
What would happen if a little French girl, born in the USA and transported to Japan by an uncle at the age of nine, grew up Japanese? Set the beginning of the story in 1856, and you have The Teahouse Fire.
Aurelia is quick to learn languages, and is taken along to Japan by her Jesuit uncle to help with his slower abilities in learning Japanese. At this time, Japan is just barely being opened to the West, and the Jesuits are there under false pretenses - officially they are there to live and learn among the people of Japan, but in reality they intend to bring Christianity to the country. Their first night in Japan, a fire rages through the city and Aurelia is separated from her uncle. She takes refuge in a teahouse, and is taken in as a servant by the family who lives there. Her name is changed to Urako and she grows up idolizing the woman who orchestrated her acceptance into the house - the Tea Master's daughter, Yukako. Although Aurelia/Urako looks different (her facial features are distinctly un-Japanese), she pretends that she was born in Japan because she is afraid of being shipped back to the United States as an orphan.
As she matures, it becomes more and more apparent that she is NOT Japanese. Though she has the correct coloring (dark hair & eyes and the correct skin tone), her body develops much differently than the Japanese women's bodies, and it becomes harder and harder for Urako to blend in and pretend that she is Japanese.
I have always had an interest in Japan and Japanese customs, and this book was full of amazing information about how things were done. One example: in a very strict class system with merchants being near the bottom, men did not physically handle money if they were above the merchant class. They controlled their household finances and had the final say in how money would be spent, but the day-to-day purchases and the actual handling of money was done by women because money was seen as something dirty and therefore beneath a man's dignity to handle.
My sister, who has also read this book, had this to say about it:
#50: The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
What would happen if a little French girl, born in the USA and transported to Japan by an uncle at the age of nine, grew up Japanese? Set the beginning of the story in 1856, and you have The Teahouse Fire.
Aurelia is quick to learn languages, and is taken along to Japan by her Jesuit uncle to help with his slower abilities in learning Japanese. At this time, Japan is just barely being opened to the West, and the Jesuits are there under false pretenses - officially they are there to live and learn among the people of Japan, but in reality they intend to bring Christianity to the country. Their first night in Japan, a fire rages through the city and Aurelia is separated from her uncle. She takes refuge in a teahouse, and is taken in as a servant by the family who lives there. Her name is changed to Urako and she grows up idolizing the woman who orchestrated her acceptance into the house - the Tea Master's daughter, Yukako. Although Aurelia/Urako looks different (her facial features are distinctly un-Japanese), she pretends that she was born in Japan because she is afraid of being shipped back to the United States as an orphan.
As she matures, it becomes more and more apparent that she is NOT Japanese. Though she has the correct coloring (dark hair & eyes and the correct skin tone), her body develops much differently than the Japanese women's bodies, and it becomes harder and harder for Urako to blend in and pretend that she is Japanese.
I have always had an interest in Japan and Japanese customs, and this book was full of amazing information about how things were done. One example: in a very strict class system with merchants being near the bottom, men did not physically handle money if they were above the merchant class. They controlled their household finances and had the final say in how money would be spent, but the day-to-day purchases and the actual handling of money was done by women because money was seen as something dirty and therefore beneath a man's dignity to handle.
My sister, who has also read this book, had this to say about it:
Very good book, and also very full of information about late 19th century Japan and the lives of the people in the teahouses there.
