The Book of Loss

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"This is a story about jealousy. It is also about lies and betrayals, trysts and exiles, palace intrigues and plagues." "It begins with the rant of a disgraced princess, and ends with the disappearance of the woman who wronged her. The setting is exotic: the courts and streets of Kyoto, the imperial capital of Japan, in the late tenth century." "A diary is stolen, and its pages are circulated throughout the palace. It reveals a tale of rivalry and deceit. Two women, both ladies-in-waiting to the Empress, fall in love with the same conniving man. He is exiled for seducing the Vestal of Ise, a young girl who is the protectress of the realm. The two women scheme to bring him back and to win first place in his affections. Their rivalry reaches such a pitch that it threatens to undermine the rule of the Emperor himself." "Through the diary, readers are drawn into a world of incense competitions and moon viewings, falconry and poetry contests, and a panoply of religious rites and festivals. A woman's choice of the colours of her dress can make or break her reputation, and a courtier's skill in writing verse is as crucial as his talent for diplomacy. Rank dictates not only a man's prospects but the type of carriage he may own and the number of folds in his fan. Privacy does not exist, though men and women spend most of their lives separated by screens and curtains." "What makes this book unforgettable is the voice of the woman who confesses her sins to her diary - a voice that is both tender and vicious, arrogant and self-searching, foreign yet utterly modern. And when the narrator falls in love for a second time, with a younger man who offers her some chance of self-redemption, her passion becomes our own."--BOOK JACKET.