“Like attending seasons of elegant tea parties—each one resplendent with character and drama. Delicious.”—Maxine Hong KingstonThe 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.We 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.

Avery, Ellis

Riverhead Trade (Paperbacks)

1st Riverhead trade pbk. ed, New York, 2007, c2006

United States, United States of America

First Edition, 2007

December 4, 2007

No table-of-contents pages found.

<p><P>The story of two women whose lives intersect in late nineteenth century Japan, <i>The Teahouse Fire</i> 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. Told through the enchanting and unforgettable voice of Aurelia, an American orphan adopted by proprietors of a tea ceremony school, this is a magisterial novel that is equal parts love story, imaginative history and bildungsroman, a story as alluring as it is powerful (<i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review).</p><h3>Publishers Weekly</h3><p>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.</p>

"The 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 one's choice of kimono could make a political statement, when women stopped blackening their teeth to profess allegiance to Western ideas, and when Japan's most mysterious rite - the tea ceremony - became not just a sacramental meal, but a ritual battlefield." "We see it all through the eyes of Aurelia Bernard, an American orphan who has just turned her back on the only family she has left: the abusive missionary uncle who has brought her along on his mission to Christianize Japan. One night in 1866, fleeing both her uncle and a fire that sweeps the city, she takes shelter in Kyoto's beautiful and mysterious Baishian teahouse, a place that will open entirely new worlds to her - and bring her a new family." "It is there that she discovers the woman who will come to define the next several decades of her life, Shin Yukako, daughter of Kyoto's most important tea master and one of the first women to openly teach the sacred ceremony known as the Way of Tea. Taking Aurelia for the abandoned daughter of a prostitute rather than a foreigner, the Shin family renames her Urako and adopts her as Yukako's attendant and surrogate younger sister. Yukako provides Aurelia with generosity, wisdom, and protection as she navigates a culture that is not always accepting of outsiders. From her privileged position at Yukako's side, Aurelia aids in her crusade to preserve the tea ceremony as it starts to fall out of favor under pressure of intense Westernization. And Aurelia herself is embraced and rejected as modernizing Japan embraces and rejects an era of radical change."--BOOK JACKET

The story of two women whose lives intersect in late nineteenth century Japan, this novel is also a portrait of Japan as it opens its doors to the West. Told through the enchanting voice of Aurelia, an American orphan adopted by proprietors of a tea ceremony school, this book is "equal parts love story, imaginative history and bildungsroman" (Publishers Weekly).--From publisher description

2023-06-28