Gorgeous book set in Peking and Japan
- Book: The Ginger Tree
- Location: Beijing (Peking), Tokyo
- Author: Oswald Wynd
This is a beautifully written book and extremely descriptive of what life must have been like for a Western woman living in China and Japan in the early 1900s. Throughout I had wonderful images of the contrasts in life between East and West at the beginning of the 1900s (and how odd rice wrapped in seaweed must have been for a Scot used to porridge). It’s easy to feel like you really get an insight into little bits of Japanese and Chinese culture through the eyes of a strong, hugely likeable heroine.
The writing style is one I haven’t ever really come across before and one that I wasn’t 100% used to by the end either. It’s written as a mixture of letters and diary entries, which works really well. However, occasionally many years pass between the diary entries and I’ll admit towards the end there was a lot of flicking back to compare dates and locations of previous passages.
Regardless of the slightly backwards – forwards way of reading, this book is lovely and very evocative of such an interesting time and location.
Please wait...
