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"By the end it is the reader who sheds the tears his heroine has kept back for almost 40 years" Nicholas Shakespeare Sunday Telegraph
Auberon Waugh, Literary Review
A totally brilliant novel.
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First Sentence
I was sick yesterday on my birthday, after not having been sick crossing the Bay of Biscay and even in the storm off Malta. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I was sick yesterday on my birthday, after not having been sick crossing the Bay of Biscay and even in the storm off Malta. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story of a courageous young girl travelling halfway across the world to marry a man she hardly knows. A woman ahead of her time, hidebound by the conventions of the day, endeavouring to burst forth like a butterfly from a chrysallis. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a stiff and conventional man, she falls in love with a Japanese warrior and pays dearly for that passion. It is then that our heroine's real journey begins, taking the reader on a path of discovery: the book reveals much about the struggle of women in the early 20th century to overcome the place to which men had allotted them, let alone to survive and prosper in a strange land with deep held traditions and views on the role of women. A wonderful book which explores women, upper middle class British views in that era and the struggle the Japanese faced coming to terms with a new century, wanting what was on offer from the West whilst desperately hanging on to the old ways. Any one who has ever felt that they have been born at the wrong time then this book will strike a resonant chord in your heart.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this following Memoirs of a Geisha and found it to be just as good, if not better.
Written in diary entries, the book follows the daunting journey and new life for a 21 year old in the Far East with a young, military husband.
I cannot recommend this book enough - it is moving, harrowing, amusing and haunting. A must-read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Years ago I watched a BBC series called The Ginger Tree. Unfortunately the series never made it to DVD. I decided to buy the book it was based on, and I'm so glad I did. It's an excellent story, and very well written. I don't usually like novels written as diary entries, but it works very well for here.
Starting before World War One and ending at the beginning of World War Two; it is the story of a courageous young girl travelling halfway across the world to marry a man she barely knows.From the first few diary entries you realise that despite her upbringing she is a woman ahead of her time.
Setting off from Edinburgh to China, she starts to discover a sense of self enroute. Her diary entries hint that she is aware that most of her contemporaries would disagree with her thoughts and actions, and she wonders what her fiancé will make of her. By the time she arrives in China the reader finds themselves rooting for her.
Unfortunately her husband is as cold and narrow minded as she is warm and broad minded. It seems that she's destined to live out her life trapped in a loveless marraige, but fate steps in. She falls in love with a Japanese man and pays dearly for that passion. It's not a book I would call romantic, the affair is understated with the repercussions taking centre stage. The real adventure starts here.
The Ginger Tree is funny and sad by turns. The main character makes keen social observations and soon learns that her naive faith in marrying a man she hardly knew was a gamble that really only benefited him.
The unfolding story is far from predictable. In my opinion, the book reveals much about the struggle of women in the early 20th century. The heroine is without prejudice regarding class, race or religion. It goes on to give an account of the types of struggles faced by the Japanese in coming to terms with a new century.
Oswald Wynd wrote the novel in 1977. A Scottish writer born in Tokyo in 1913; his family only returned to Scotland in 1932. I've recommended this book to friends and have yet to meet someone who didn't enjoy it.
Starting before World War One and ending at the beginning of World War Two; it is the story of a courageous young girl travelling halfway across the world to marry a man she barely knows.From the first few diary entries you realise that despite her upbringing she is a woman ahead of her time.
Setting off from Edinburgh to China, she starts to discover a sense of self enroute. Her diary entries hint that she is aware that most of her contemporaries would disagree with her thoughts and actions, and she wonders what her fiancé will make of her. By the time she arrives in China the reader finds themselves rooting for her.
Unfortunately her husband is as cold and narrow minded as she is warm and broad minded. It seems that she's destined to live out her life trapped in a loveless marraige, but fate steps in. She falls in love with a Japanese man and pays dearly for that passion. It's not a book I would call romantic, the affair is understated with the repercussions taking centre stage. The real adventure starts here.
The Ginger Tree is funny and sad by turns. The main character makes keen social observations and soon learns that her naive faith in marrying a man she hardly knew was a gamble that really only benefited him.
The unfolding story is far from predictable. In my opinion, the book reveals much about the struggle of women in the early 20th century. The heroine is without prejudice regarding class, race or religion. It goes on to give an account of the types of struggles faced by the Japanese in coming to terms with a new century.
Oswald Wynd wrote the novel in 1977. A Scottish writer born in Tokyo in 1913; his family only returned to Scotland in 1932. I've recommended this book to friends and have yet to meet someone who didn't enjoy it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Interesting, but I didn't connect emotionally
The Ginger Tree is set in a very interesting time and place, and is written as a journal of a somewhat rebellious young woman. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J.D.
Totally absorbing
This story of a young woman who travels to China to marry a man she doesn't know, and what happens to her when she falls for a Japanese soldier and her marriage falls apart, is... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Wonderful book
I saw this as a TV serial years ago,sadly not available and the book does not dissappoint,in fact I loved it.It makes a period of history I'm not familiar with come to life. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Angela
The Ginger Tree
This book was a delight from start to finish.Beautifully restrained, it took you back to another time and to a country where appearances and the manners of both, conceal a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Margaret Davies
An excellent, surprising and moving book
An evocative book on early 20th century Japan. The format is of short diary extracts and letters, which provide a fine setting to display the changing personal life, gaining of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by dabarlow
An undiscovered gem
This is a beautiful book with a perfectly written story, in journals and letters, of a remarkable woman character and her life/lives in Scotland, China and Japan. Read more
Published 13 months ago by A reader
The Ginger Tree
This book is unfortunately out of circulation now. My book club chose this read and I was sceptical at first as it is written in diary form which I find hard to engage in... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Chubb
The Ginger Tree
Excellent book, well worth the read ,well written ,interesting story line ,really enjoyed it.Gives you a very good idea how life was for women in the the early 20th century.
Published on 28 Dec 2009 by Mrs. S. M. smith
much better than memoirs of a Geisha
The Ginger Tree is the story of a young gril from Edinburgh who travels to the Far East to marry, has a scandalous affair, an illegitimate baby by a Japanese samurai and ends up... Read more
Published on 11 Oct 1999 by Daisy Goodwin
I couldn't even grudgingly admire the heroine or her choices
In this story we see more than forty years of East-West relationships and the development of modern Japan first through the eyes of a very young and naive girl and, then,... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 1999
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