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Samurai Sano Ichiro, our guide through the intricacies of life and death in 17th-century Japan in Laura Joh Rowland's evocative and accessible mysteries (Bundori and Shinju are available in paperback) is called the Shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People. All of these skills--plus a strong sense of survival--are needed in this story about what happens when Dutch traders arrive in Nagasaki in 1690. The foreigners are isolated in a small section of the city, and most ordinary citizens are forbidden to make contact with them--on penalty of beheading. But when the Dutch trade director is found murdered, Sano risks his neck to find the killer and satisfy his curiosity about the world outside his rigorously regimented homeland.
Book Description
A volatile, corrupt city threatened by toreign invasion and ru by an iron-fisted government, Nagasaki is the last place Sano Ichiro wants to be, Unfortunately, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People has been banished there by a wicked adversary in the shogun's court.
Surrounded by spies, Sano must tread carefully. When the body of a Dutch trader washes ashore, he finds himself leading an investigation that could push Japan into war -- even as it thrusts his life into the hands of powerful enemies. Sano has to unmask a killer and prove his innocence, or his samurai head, and maybe his country, will fall.
Customer Reviews:
More Character Development.......2005-10-27
As the third book featuring Sano Ichiro, I was anxious to read it once I picked it up. The politics in Bundori whetted my appetite, and I was ready for more.
The story takes place a year-and-a-half after Bundori. Sano has not yet married, still mourning the loss of his love. He has also found that there is little he can do to change the corrupt administration of the government and is despondent about the corruption. Strangely enough, Hirata, Sano's chief retainer, is despondent over his service to Sano as he does not seem to want to be protected and takes unnecessary risks. If Way of the Traitor does anything, it solidifies the relationship between Sano and Hirata, setting up their companionship for the later books.
Sano is sent to Nagasaki where he has to unravel the mystery behind the murder of the head of the Dutch East India Company. As the story progresses, the stakes increase, and Sano takes more risks, putting his life and reputation at stake. Through the course of the story, he uncovers corruption in the administration of Nagasaki, develops camaraderie with the Dutch doctor and is convicted of treason himself.
In the end, Sano lives, and he returns to Edo (the series would be very different if he did not). However, it is the lessons he learns that makes the story important in the development of the character. For that is the purpose of the book in the overall series, developing Sano to deal with the challenges in the later books.
Now my complaint is since the story takes place in Nagasaki, I have the feeling that I will not see most of these characters ever again. As such, the politics were less pressing. I like the world Rowland is developing, and Nagasaki is on the edge of this world. Now, I hope I am wrong, but I will not know until I push farther into series.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has read the previous ones. I am less likely to recommend this book on its own since it builds so much upon the events of Bundori.
Laura Joh Rowlands is becoming one of my favorite authors!.......2005-09-07
We continue with the saga of the Shogun's detective, a medieval samurai, as he copes with political intriques, crime, and the ramifications of his own desire to always find out the truth no matter the cost. The book is well written, the characters well developed, and the story keeps you wanting to read on. The villans are enough to confuse the issue with who the real murderer is and so, the hallmark of a good author, the revelation is a surprise. My Japanese exchange student says the story is historically very accurate to boot. What more can you ask??
Excellent Story.......2005-07-03
I first read The Way of the Traitor several years ago and found it quite interesting. Now, as I write this review, I am sitting in a computer cafe in Nagasaki.
Rowland's plot is quite good. Sano has found himself essentially exiled from Edo by his unintended rival the Shogun's Chamberlin. He is given the task of "inspecting" Nagasaki which is just about as far from Edo as you can go and still be in Japan. Given the state of transportation systems in Japan during the Shogunate, it is possible the chamberlain was hoping Sano wouldn't survive the journey.
Nagasaki is Japan's window to the world and it is tightly guraded and only open a crack. The only authorized westerners in Japan are the Dutch and the are kept on a small man-made island in the harbor. Origianlly the concession was given to the Portugese who along with trade brough Christianity and this ultimately lead to the banning of Christian teachings, the expulsion of the Portugese and the persecution of Japanese Christians. The Dutch have filled the void left by the departed Portugese becasue they aren't interested in spreading the gospel, just@making profits on their investments. They can't leave the island unescorted and no Japanese can enter except on official business. To even go on the island one is required to take and oath against Christianity and desecrate Christian icons. The penalty for not adhering to the oath is severe - death.
Sano's arival coincides with the disappearance of one of the Dutch trading mission from the island. It is this investigation which Sano finds himself involved with that almost cost Sano his life in several different ways.
The plot is well set out. The are a large number of potential suspects ranging from@the surviving Dutch traders to a Chinese religious leader to corrupt local officals. It is not an easy trail for Sano to follow and Rowland makes the sidetracks and false leads quite intriguing. The conclusion to the investigation is excellently done.
I have read this book several times and have found it just as entertaining now as when I first got it. Now reading it in Nagasaki it is almost like being in a time warp. Looking at the Nagasaki of today, it is easy to not see the houses clustering on the hills around the city and to see it as it was in the late 17th Century. It is a hot, humid and foggy night as I sit here writing - just the right conditions for a stranger to the city to look for a murderer who might be any one of a number of people.
Rowland is an exceptional story teller. She
weaves an exceptional tale of the very narrow meeting point between Japan and the rest of the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes history interlaced with their fiction.
Office politics and the way of the Samuri.......2005-02-07
Ever been set up by a middle manager that wants to make you look bad to make himself look better? Well imagine that the consequence is beheading instead of a write up. That's what the hero face in this exploration of predjudice, paranoia and murder. Fun story, good detective work and good action spice up this book of value exploration.
East Meets West...Unwillingly.......2002-11-19
This novel picks up where Rowland's last Sano Ichiro novel left off: once again, Sano is the victor in the battle against crime, but loser of the war that rages within the Shogun's household. And, once again, his enemy is the Shogun's favorite, Yanagisawa. Sano finds himself essentially exiled to Nagasaki, the only port in which Japan allows foreigners -- closely watched, of course. A Dutch trader is murdered, and Sano offers to unearth the murderer, a seemingly impossible, and politically suicidal, task. Will Sano persevere? Since this is a series of novels, it's pretty obvious he will solve the case. However, I don't think I can take much more of Sano and his associates constantly beaten, wounded, and almost assassinated! The most interesting part of the book, in my opinion, is the picture of foreigners Rowland paints in the book: they are, to Sano and other Japanese, dirty, smelly, and almost completely uncivilized. The fact that Sano needs one of the Dutch delegation's help challenges his detective and physical senses to the extreme. Rowland is historically accurate in her depiction of the xenophobia present in Japan, and the fears that foreigners will somehow pollute the purity of Japanese culture, something that James Clavell did so well in 'Shogun'.
Book Description
Originally published in 1863. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Product Description
4 massmarket paperback Titles in Sano Ichiro series (not in sequence) - Shinju - The Way of the Traitor - Samurai's Wife - Dragon King's Palace
Book Description
A woman burdened by war...A doctor torn between passion and duty...A sweeping tale of love in the face of dishonor from the incomparable storyteller--Kathleen Woodiwiss.
Alaina MacGaren is forced to flee the devastation of her homeland in the guise of a young boy, only to find sanctuary in the arms of an enemy. Cole Latimer is a dashing Yankee surgeon who has served the Union faithfully, and his tender heart compels him to help a ragged, innocent "lad" in need--never suspecting the rags conceal a bewitching belle suspected of being a rebel spy.
But Alaina's masquerade does not fool Cole for long. And the strength, courage, and breathtaking sensuality of this woman whom it would be treasonous to love sets duty and desire at war within him. Yet Destiny has joined them for good or ill--and they both must follow where their hearts would lead them, if they are to build a glorious new life together out of the ashes of the old.
Download Description
Alaina MacGaren, forced to flee her devastated Southern homeland in the guise of a young boy, finds sanctuary with Yankee surgeon Cole Latimer. But when the bewitching belle is unmasked, Cole must choose between duty and desire. A woman burdened by war...A doctor torn between passion and duty...A sweeping tale of love in the face of dishonor from the incomparable storyteller--Kathleen Woodiwiss. Alaina MacGaren is forced to flee the devastation of her homeland in the guise of a young boy, only to find sanctuary in the arms of an enemy. Cole Latimer is a dashing Yankee surgeon who has served the Union faithfully, and his tender heart compels him to help a ragged, innocent "lad" in need--never suspecting the rags conceal a bewitching belle suspected of being a rebel spy. But Alaina's masquerade does not fool Cole for long. And the strength, courage, and breathtaking sensuality of this woman whom it would be treasonous to love sets duty and desire at war within him. Yet Destiny has joined them for good or ill--and they both must follow where their hearts would lead them, if they are to build a glorious new life together out of the ashes of the old.
Customer Reviews:
Astoundingly Great - Read This One!.......2007-10-11
This is that rare kind of novel where, when I reached the end, I felt like I had been on a long and magnificent voyage and cried that it was over. The Civil War era is not a favorite of mine, so I approached Ashes with some doubt. I was quickly won over.
Now to the meat of the matter...the love story. The relationship is so well crafted and given time to grow and develop. Our couple is wonderfully amiable, but more than that they are real, multi-dimensional players in this romantic saga. And the sexual tension...well, let me say I have never read anything like it.
It's a wonderful thing to be able to remember Kathleen Woodiwiss by reading her timeless classics.
Olden is still golden.......2007-09-20
There's romances... and then, there's romances. Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' sweeping, 565-page civil war romance ASHES IN THE WIND warmly engages readers. It's incredible that a book published back in 1979 such as this one still reigns supreme compared to the spewing potboilers shedding from romance shelves these days. In ASHES IN THE WIND, the hero and heroine verbally spar on an equal level and there's a veritable seesawing in the game of wit rather than the common hoax of making the hero look like a moron in response to the heroine's "wit." Here, each of our leading pair give as good as they get, in terms of the sexual tension, games of wit, love, and caring. There's a connection and chemistry here that actually overshadows the common scientific ministrations of a libertine initiating a virgin (or near-virgin) to sexual passion, a initiation "plot" often dominating romance novels. Here, the hero's pining at the end isn't forced, it isn't egregious and it isn't so blatantly one-sided (from the hero)! Here, the intrigue/war plot parallels the passion skillfully! Strong prose and vivid settings makes everything better and Woodiwiss definitely excels on both accounts. I will have to read other KEW books in the future, and I wonder if there's other civil war love stories out there. I found the book's attempts to describe the civil war an anemic affair, and the focus firmly rests on Alaina and her struggle.
My problems with the novel: torpid pacing, a ridiculous ending and a fun yet debilitating second part which seems to handicap its protagonists. The first half of part two features some rather fun moments of strife (and tension) between the hero Cole Latimer and the heroine Alaina MacGaren based on a misconception. The second half of part two, meanwhile, actually spent time portraying their mutual love and caring for each other reminiscent of Julie Garwood's sweet h/h interaction. I thought Woodiwiss made the bickering from the first half of part two fun and balanced, a rare talent amongst romance novelists and yet she still spent time on their tenderness and caring for each other after they prevailed against the misconception which separated them intimately. Unfortunately, Woodiwiss intersperses clues which portends the return of villains at the end, and Cole and Alaina just seem to ignore all the clues and fail to proactively dig deeper and possibly prepare better against villains at the end who have them at a decided disadvantage. Essentially, the romance handicaps them from thinking and acting logically, especially Cole. I also felt the pacing meandered quite a bit in this 565-page epic with seemingly pointless passages.
ASHES IN THE WIND soundly belongs to its heroine Alaina MacGaren, a young seventeen year-old girl who loses everything to the war and the Yankees: her father, her mother, her brother and her home. She dons many guises including that of a ragged boy to escape persecution when she meets a Union Captain, the Doctor Cole Latimer. Alaina, of course, detests Yankees. Alaina is many things, but foremost among them: resilient beyond belief. The book follows Alaina, her adventures and her thoughts much more closely than Cole's, all in the context of the American Civil War.
The book was fun overall, epic in proportions, the love was equal parts fun and heartwarming by highlighting the connection between our leading pair, and the plotting was laced with engaging intrigue. The writing and settings were far superior than I'm used to from romance novelists. Olden is still golden...
Ashes in the Wind...and Shanna.......2007-09-10
I have read all of her work available and while Shanna was my favorite, after reading Ashes in the Wind, I would have to say this is now my favorite one. Both of these works make me "care" about the characters. I loved them!
NOT ONE OF HER BEST.......2007-07-31
I love Kathleen Woodiwiss's novels, in fact, Shanna is my favorite book of all time, but I was very disappointed in this one. I found the story too long with an overly complicated plot that was somehow still quite predictable. I was also very disappointed in the hero, Cole. He wasn't enough of an alpha male for me and seemed weak in many respects. He smoked and drank incessantly, became thin and weak, and put up with way too much from Roberta. But it was his relationship with Xanthia Morgan that bothered me the most. Ok, so maybe I should be able to cut him some slack for seeing this woman while he was married to Roberta, but I couldn't forgive him for even entertaining the thought, much less showing up at her door, once he was married to Alaina. Whether or not this is realistic of me might be up for debate, but I don't want or need realism from a romance novel. What I want is escapism -- a wonderful, perfect fantasy, and I just didn't get that from this book. I've read most of Kathleen Woodiwiss's novels and Shanna is by far the best, followed by The Wolf and The Dove. I plan to read the rest as well!
Ashes in the Wind.......2007-06-12
Alaina, a southern belle at age 17 at the beggining of the book, has to escape from union troops for delivering a message to a Confederate General. So she leaves her land for New Orleans where her uncle (her dead mother's brother), aunt and female cousin, Roberta, live. But she runs into a Union surgeon, Cole, who saves her from being roughed up by some Union soldiers. But Cole saves "Al", a young boy; he doesn't realize Alaina dressed up as a boy, called herself Al, to safely get to New Orleans. She continues dressing up as a boy so she can work at the hospital for money, so not to be a burden on her uncle. Roberta spesns her time sleeping and being pretty. Roberta hates the war because there are no eligible beaux, but meeting Cole inflames her desire to marry him (esp. after finding out he is rich!) and she plays dirty to get him. Alaina loves Cole, even though he is a damn Yankee from Minnesota, and Cole falls in love with a woman he bedded while he was drunk, and mistakens said woman for Roberta. All this during the Civil War. Too much is happening, though. Finding out the Al is really Alaina sets in motion Alaina going back to her homestead, then saving Cole in a battle, then going down the river to New Orleans with an injured Cole, then Roberta and Cole going to Minn. then Alaina trying to forget Cole and start acting like a lady, then attracting the attention of a really bad Creol, who wants her in his bed (and the Creol, Jacque, is in the book so much he is pratcially a main char.), then Roberta -----, then Alaina having to escape New Orleans, then this long dragged out non-consummated relationship with Cole, then murder mysteries galore, then missing money, and a crafty housekeeper, then a mistress, then everything coming to an end with a house burning down, near-rape, two big black guys fighting and pirates. It is an enjoyable book, but way to much happens for the big payoff; it just gets bogged down. Did I mention that Cole has blue eyes and Alaina has gray eyes?
Average customer rating:
- Far from the Maddening Crowd
- Far from the Maddenin Crowd
- Fans of James Herriot will love her books!
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Wind in the Ash Tree
Jeanine McMullen
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mcmullen My Small Country Living
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A Small Country Living Goes on
ASIN: 0393306275 |
Customer Reviews:
Far from the Maddening Crowd.......2000-02-22
When the hustle and bustle of modern life has you totally frazzled reach for any of Jeanine McMullen's books and slow down. Her descriptions of life on a small farm in Wales are not only delightful but a real hoot. Who would have thought a horse named Doli could create such pandominium? And her little whippet, Merlin; you will never forget some of the stunts he pulls. The goat Little Nana (black-hearted rebel that she is) is also always causing one sort of trouble after another. I just wish Jeanine had written more than three books about her life in Wales.
Far from the Maddenin Crowd.......2000-02-22
When the hustle and bustle of modern life has you totally frazzled reach for any of Jeanine McMullen's books and slow down. Her descriptions of life on a small farm in Wales are not only delightful but a real hoot. Who would have thought a horse named Doli could create such pandominium? And her little whippet, Merlin; you will never forget some of the stunts he pulls. The goat Little Nana (rebel that she is) is also always causing one sort of trouble after another. I just wish Jeanine had written more than three books about her life in Wales.
Fans of James Herriot will love her books!.......1998-11-19
The marvelous sequel to "A Small Country Living", this book continues with the amusing and touching experiences of a BBC radio broadcaster's life on a tiny farm in the mountains of Wales. Her writing is wonderfully evocative, and her observations are most often funny or ironic. Think of "Under the Tuscan Sun" with looney livestock in place of the luscious food and lots more clouds and damp. Years later, Jeanine McMullen remains one of my all-time favorite writers. And if you love dogs, you'll especially enjoy her books--they're all keepers!!
Customer Reviews:
Disturbingly violent and hypocritical .......2007-01-05
The book takes place approximately 10 years after a nuclear apocalypse and revolves around Ben Raines a Soldier of Fortune who is intent on reuniting the United States and pushing out various foreign armies. Along the way he liberates towns and dispenses justice to what he considers wrong doers. The book is full of hypocrisies and depictions of rape and torture to men, women and children in graphic detail. This is definitely not a kid's book and the depictions are very disturbing. The hero comes out as hypocritical in several areas. In one instance a community joins his army to rid their area of an invading force and once they have been freed they are told by Raines that they will be going to another state to free that area. The leader of the community tells Raines they had plans to go back to their community and take up farming again. Raines tells them that they are either with him or against him and that he takes no prisoners. The biggest hypocrisy is his philosophy on warlords who own sections of land and demand tributes from the farmers to provide them protection. Ben Raines army will march in with his tanks and artillery and destroy the bad guys and tell them how bad they are. Then you start to wonder how he gets his supplies I can't imagine how much fuel, food, and ammunition are needed to keep an army of several 1000 on the move. So unless he has a magical supply truck he has to be taking supplies from the surrounding farmers. The same farmers who where having to pay a tribute to the warlords for safety which makes Raines the same as the warlords.
another Ashes series great.......2001-11-09
all of this series are a tresure for any American who values his country and his beliefs... and not just a "his" book...this book has merit to all who can hear the message.. the philosophy of common sense and standing up for your beliefs are a delight in this day of political correctness..to enjoy this book better ..reading the original Out of the Ashes is very helpful but not necessary
Russians, Gangs, Cults...Why not Lybia!.......2001-06-27
Ben Raines and his rebels have fought tooth and nail against cults, Russians, Gangfs, and just plain filth. Now, an army of invading Lybians, headed by Khamsin (Hot Wind), are threatening the shores of America. Ben must finish the Russian Striganov, deal with Hartline, and still make sure that he has enough forces to deal with the new Lybian Leader who has threatened to make America the new seat of Islam. Riveting and frightening, which makes it that much better to read.
Product Description
Disguised as a ragged, dirty-faced boy, lovely Alaina MacGaren flees the Yankee troops ravaging her plantation and makes her way by riverboat to New Orleans, hoping to find refuge with her only surviving kin...
Average customer rating:
- A riveting first-hand account of the tragedy of 1940-1945
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Ashes in the Wind: The Destruction of Dutch Jewry
Jacob Presser
Manufacturer: Wayne State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Victims and Survivors: The Nazi Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands 1940-1945
ASIN: 0814320368 |
Customer Reviews:
A riveting first-hand account of the tragedy of 1940-1945.......1999-03-13
The author, a school-teacher in pre-war Holland, describes the events that befell the Jewish community in the Netherlands following the German invasion in 1940 -- from the first, seemingly harmless bureaucratic steps of registering the population according to religion, right through to the banal industrial efficiency of the deportation and incineration of 100,000 human beings into smoke and ashes in the death camps of Poland.
This book will dispel any illusions you might have that the Anne Frank experience was at all typical of the fate of most Dutch Jews. The book makes clear that everyone involved in this sordid story tried to act in what were their own selfish interests -- from the German soldier who was "only obeying orders", the Jewish communal functionaries who "tried not to make trouble", the non-Jewish population who out of fear for their own lives did very little to intervene, to the average man and woman in the street who desperately tried any means to wriggle their way out of the trap.
The book is well-written, thoroughly researched, and accurate. The lesson to be learned is how easily the bourgeois stability of a Westernized, democratic, tolerant, peace-loving country like the Netherlands, could be transformed almost overnight into an unbelieveable hell-hole.
Customer Reviews:
My Ultimate Favorite Book.......2007-04-24
I first read this book when I was a Junior in High School. I wasn't someone who liked to read, but a friend gave my this book & told me to try & read it. Well I started the book & I couldn't put me down. There are so many different twists & you really come to love BOTH of the main characters. Just when you think things are going to work out there is another twist. As in my title for the this review Ashes In The Wind is my ultimate favorite book & I have read it so many time I have lost count. I actually had to buy a new book because I wore my original book out.
Books:
- The Wyndham Legacy
- Time And Again: Time Was\Times Change
- Top of her Game (Black Lace)
- Trans-Sister Radio
- Ugly As Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces and How We Can Change Them Back Again (Forthright Edition)
- Watch for Me on the Mountain (Originally Published As : Cry Geronimo)
- What We Keep
- Windfall (2 Novels in 1)
- Wolf's Hour
- A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Days of the Dead: Mexico's Festival of Communion With the Departed/Los Dias De Muertos
- Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations
- Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes
- How the Other Half Lives
- History: Fiction or Science
- Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition
- Living Proof: A Medical Mutiny
- Race, Sex and Gender in Contemporary Art: The Rise of Minority Culture
- Foreplay for Married Couples Only
- Flowers and trees of Seychelles
Bundori
The Concubine's Tattoo (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)
The Samurai's Wife: A Novel (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)
Black Lotus (Sano Ichiro Novels)
Shinju
