'When I was nine, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate...What I asked for? Any life but this one'. When Aurelia flees the fire that kills her missionary uncle and leaves her orphaned and alone in nineteenth-century Japan, she has no idea how quickly her wish will be answered. Knowing only a few words of Japanese, she hides in a tea house and is adopted by the family who own it, gradually falling in love with both the tea ceremony and with her young mistress, Yukako. As Aurelia grows up she devotes herself to the family and its failing fortunes in the face of civil war and western intervention, and to Yukako's love affairs and subsequent marriage. But her feelings for her mistress are never reciprocated, and as tensions mount in the household Aurelia begins to realise that to the world around her she will never be anything but an outsider. A lushly detailed, spellbinding story, "The Teahouse Fire" is an unforgettable debut.
The Teahouse Fire
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The tea ceremony becomes a tiny stage on which grand passions are enacted... Avery captures all this with the emotional poise befitting her characters, and great sensual pleasure. Her novel is a rather beautiful thing: all the more so for emulating the values of another world Financial Times Should appeal to fans of Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day Scotland on Sunday The Teahouse Fire is a novel as exquisitely intricate and carefully presented as the tea ceremonies it depicts. It is a masterful act, and a most captivating portrait of a changing society. A book to savour -- Matt Haig, Author Of Dead Fathers Club In Ellis Avery's The Teahouse Fire, aesthetic rules vie with politics, sex and human feeling. Avery has whipped up a heady brew -- Liza Dalby, Author Of The Tale Of Murasaki, Geisha And Kimono A rich story, to be savoured for its detail rather than its plot Observer
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Original, impeccably written and incredibly moving, The Teahouse Fire is a wonderful debut novel in the vein of Memoirs of a Geisha.
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WHEN I WAS NINE, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate. Read the first page
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WHEN I WAS NINE, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By M. Demian
Format:Paperback
Well, either I've read a different book from poor 'old decaf' above, or it just goes to show that you don't buy a book for its cover! Presumably the previous reviewer was hoping for an Orientalist potboiler á là Memoirs of a Geisha. Thankfully, The Teahouse Fire is so much more. Avery evokes a place and time in which history is kinship and the aesthetic is political, such that the fortunes of an entire family stand or fall by the presentation of the wrong tea bowl. The experience of her protagonist, Aurelia/Urako, is as much a coming-of-age story as it is one of her emergence into knowledge of a world to which she came in utter ignorance. Because of this, her acquisition of language, of social rituals, and of chado (the way of tea) are all simultaneously her growing awareness of the perils of loyalty and the impossibility of desire. It is a story as exquisitely composed as the ancient tea house in which Aurelia's tale truly begins. Definitely stay away if you are uninterested in minutely observed relationships, the folding of historical events into a character's gesture or choice of garment, or the joy of hard-won love. This book is for the rest of us.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Felicity
Format:Paperback
Feast of the senses has definitely got this book spot on. I loved it for the detailed and gently paced view into another era. One of my favourite books of the year.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I started to read this while in Japan and struggled to find all that the top reviews said I would.
Yes, it does evoke a certain empathy with life for women in Japan in the late 19c but does little to accurately provide a tangible description of their surroundings which I was able to conjour up only due to visiting Kyoto and a teahouse.
Aside from this, I am still reeling at having to pay for such a poorly proof-read book, if indeed it was proof-read at all. Hard to tell on a Kindle, but I estimate that this book contains 1 spelling or punctuation error per printed page. I have never experianced this level of poor-quality printing/publishing before and found it profoundly irritating. Perhaps I should "chill" more.......
Yes, it does evoke a certain empathy with life for women in Japan in the late 19c but does little to accurately provide a tangible description of their surroundings which I was able to conjour up only due to visiting Kyoto and a teahouse.
Aside from this, I am still reeling at having to pay for such a poorly proof-read book, if indeed it was proof-read at all. Hard to tell on a Kindle, but I estimate that this book contains 1 spelling or punctuation error per printed page. I have never experianced this level of poor-quality printing/publishing before and found it profoundly irritating. Perhaps I should "chill" more.......
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bad romance
I bought this book on the back of my Geisha obsession which has been going strong for about 10 years now and yes it was Memoirs of a Geisha that got me interested. Read more
Published on 6 May 2010 by Hatred n Gretel
4.0 out of 5 stars
the teahouse fire
Beautifully written with an unexpected ending.. the prose was gripping and a great insight into past Japanese culture. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Charlotte A. Thomson
1.0 out of 5 stars
not recommended
It started off rather slow and uninteresting, but I persevered expecting it to get better. Really quite boring to read, the only time it got interesting was in the last few pages. Read more
Published on 11 May 2009 by bam
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a load of old deccaf
Boring, dull, unclear, lacking passion, dissapointing, no plot. Our book club loved the cover, and were so unimpressed with the story. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2008 by J. Lockwood
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