Quite a delightful find – a book set in Japan

• Book: The Gilded Fan
• Location: Amsterdam, Nagasaki, Plymouth
• Author: Christina Courtenay

Review Author: tripfiction

I was mainly attracted to this book by the cover (and I loved the Memoirs of a Geisha and The Ginger Tree – if you have never read the latter, then do! It is fab!) and all things Japanese. In fact, the last reviewer mentioned this book as being set in China, it is Japan. Off Nagasaki on the island of Dejima. I was fascinated by the historical aspects – that the emperor was getting rid of any people who were not absolutely Japanese, hence Midori (half English) has to flee – and, what 9 months or so later arrives in Amsterdam. Loved the descriptions of Amsterdam of the 1640s, the Golden Age, when everything was going well for the Dutch. Get to Plymouth – this is the bit where I rather lost interest, parliament versus The King, it was colourless, and lost momentum. Overall, though, I enjoyed it.

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