Description

Past and present collide when an American missionary unearths an ancient Japanese scroll and becomes entangled with the nobleman whose family's history lies in the delicate pages in this "timeless tale of intrigue and romance" (Booklist) from the author of Cloud of Sparrows.

"One of the most impressive feats of storytelling to come along in years."--San Francisco Chronicle Books

An embattled family. A centuries-old secret. An epic tale of courage, love, and betrayal.

In the year 1311, in the highest tower of Cloud of Sparrows Castle, a beautiful woman sits by the window, watching as enemies gather below. As she calmly awaits her fate, she begins to write, carefully setting down on a scroll the secret history of the Okumichi clan . . . of the gift of prophecy they share and the extraordinary destiny that awaits them.

For six centuries, these writings lay hidden--until they are uncovered by an American missionary named Emily Gibson, who arrived in Edo harbor in 1861. Soon an extraordinary man would enter her life: Lord Genji of the Okumichi clan, a nobleman who must defend his embattled family--and confront forbidden feelings for an outsider in his midst. Emily soon finds a mission of her own: translating Genji's ancestral history. But as Emily sifts through the fragile scrolls, she begins to see threads of her own life woven into the ancient writings. And soon a hidden history comes to life, and with it a secret prophecy that has been shrouded for centuries, and may now finally be revealed.