A Woman of Pleasure (#1,256) is the first English translation (by Juliet Winters Carpenter) of award-winning Japanese writer Kiyoko Murata's work. It's not for the faint of heart.
Aoi Ichi is the daughter of a diving family from the island of Iwo Jima. She admires her mother and older sister who both free dive to earn a meager living, far outearning her fisherman father. She is surprised to find herself bundled aboard a ferry to a port near Nagasaki one day in 1903. She and other girls her own age is collected there by the agent of Shinonome House, a grand house of pleasure in the licensed district. There her life completely changes when she learns that she has been sold to the house and must work off the debt incurred by payment to her father. She is lucky. She has been deemed worthy of training as a higher-class courtesan.
Since the house does cater to a wealthier clientele, all the girls are also trained how to read and write, how to arrange flowers and how to dance, sing and play instruments. But much of their time is also spent in learning the physical arts of how to best please their customers and earn a loyal following. If they can rise to the top, they may be able to free themselves from their financial burdens and aspire even to marriage. If not, their debt mounts at the brothel. If they cannot pay at the end of their contract, they will be turned out and forced to work in one of the unlicensed "hells".
How Aoi Ichi manages her life, bears her training and somehow finds some small joys makes for a brutal, but worthwhile story with unforgettable characters.
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