The Courtesan
Description
An astonishing debut novel inspired by the life of the legendary Qing dynasty courtesan, Sai Jinhua. The year is 1881, the era of Chinas humiliation at the hands of imperialist Europe. Seven-year-old Jinhua is left alone and unprotected, her life transformed after her mandarin fathers summary execution for the crime of speaking the truth. As an orphan, she endures the brutal logic of a brothel-keeper, who puts her to work as a so-called money tree, and she survives the worst of human nature with the friendship and wisdom of the crippled brothel maid. When an elegant but troubled scholar takes Jinhua as his concubine, she leaves both the trauma of brothel life and the comfort of friendship behind and encounters for the first time the tantalizing and elusive notion of "Great Love. She travels with her emissary husband to Europe and discovers there the mesmerizing strangeness, irresistible sensualities, and exotic possibilities of fin de si egravec le Vienna, while struggling against the constraints of tradition and her husbands wishes. Sai Jinhua is an altered woman when she returns to a changed and changing China, where a terrible clash of East and West is brewing, and where her western sympathies will ultimately threaten not only her own survival but the survival of those who are most dear to her. The Courtesan is a timeless tale of friendship and sacrifice, temptation and redemption; the story of a woman's journey to discern what is real and abiding, and a book that shines a small light on the large history of China's relations with the West.
More Details
ISBN:
9781622319619
Staff View
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 3b9592eb-b631-aba4-ef09-91f577c3ed48 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | courtesan |
Grouping Author | alexandra curry |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2023-11-30 04:07:42AM |
Last Indexed | 2023-11-30 04:46:49AM |
Solr Fields
accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Curry, Alexandra
author_display
Curry, Alexandra
available_at_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
detailed_location_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
display_description
An astonishing debut novel inspired by the life of the legendary Qing dynasty courtesan, Sai Jinhua. The year is 1881, the era of Chinas humiliation at the hands of imperialist Europe. Seven-year-old Jinhua is left alone and unprotected, her life transformed after her mandarin fathers summary execution for the crime of speaking the truth. As an orphan, she endures the brutal logic of a brothel-keeper, who puts her to work as a so-called money tree, and she survives the worst of human nature with the friendship and wisdom of the crippled brothel maid. When an elegant but troubled scholar takes Jinhua as his concubine, she leaves both the trauma of brothel life and the comfort of friendship behind and encounters for the first time the tantalizing and elusive notion of "Great Love. She travels with her emissary husband to Europe and discovers there the mesmerizing strangeness, irresistible sensualities, and exotic possibilities of fin de si egravec le Vienna, while struggling against the constraints of tradition and her husbands wishes. Sai Jinhua is an altered woman when she returns to a changed and changing China, where a terrible clash of East and West is brewing, and where her western sympathies will ultimately threaten not only her own survival but the survival of those who are most dear to her. The Courtesan is a timeless tale of friendship and sacrifice, temptation and redemption; the story of a woman's journey to discern what is real and abiding, and a book that shines a small light on the large history of China's relations with the West.
format_aacpl
eAudiobook
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Audio Books
eBook
eBook
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3b9592eb-b631-aba4-ef09-91f577c3ed48
isbn
9781622319619
last_indexed
2023-11-30T09:46:49.994Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
local_callnumber_aacpl
Online OverDrive
owning_library_aacpl
Anne Arundel County Public Library Online
owning_location_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
primary_isbn
9781622319619
publishDate
2015
publisher
HighBridge
recordtype
grouped_work
title_display
The Courtesan
title_full
The Courtesan
title_short
The Courtesan
topic_facet
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Literature
Historical Fiction
Literature
Solr Details Tables
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record_details
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overdrive:926fa7cf-8047-49ac-b301-f00a938d5091 | eAudiobook | Audio Books | English | HighBridge | 2015 |
scoping_details_aacpl
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