In the tempestuous closing years of the twelfth century, the fourteen-year-old Oba Toshiko, daughter of a provincial warlord, enters the women’s quarters of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, her body bartered for favor at court. Toshiko’s talent as a singer of popular songs and her innocence excite the emperor’s lust and the dangerous jealousy of Lady Sanjo. An accidental and forbidden meeting with the noble physician Yamada Sadahira tempts Toshiko’s heart and tests her loyalty to her family. When her enemy strikes, she flees the palace to be with Sadahira.
Impeccably researched, I.J. Parker’s DREAM OF A SPRING NIGHT begins the saga of the Yamada family, of Toshiko and Sadahira, and of the enigmatic adopted son Hachiro. Their fate will play out against the violence and pageantry of the Heike Wars and the fall of the empire.
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