The Last Concubine (The Shogun Quartet 2)

Author/Guide: Lesley Downer

Why a Booktrail?

1865: The women’s palace in the great city of Edo is a hotbed of intrigue

ISBN: 978-0552155205
Genre: Fiction, Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

Bristling with intrigue and erotic rivalries, the palace is home to three thousand women and only one man – the young shogun. Sachi, a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl, is chosen to be his concubine.

But Japan is changing, and as civil war erupts, Sachi flees for her life. Rescued by a rebel warrior, she finds unknown feelings stirring within her; but this is a world in which private passions have no place and there is not even a word for ‘love’.

Before she dare dream of a life with him, Sachi must uncover the secret of her own origins – a secret that encompasses a wrong so terrible that it threatens to destroy her ….

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Travel Guide

Edo period, Japan

The city of Japan was once known as Edo – and this is a story that takes you back to those days. When the tall, thick walls of the strictly secluded palace keep the chosen few in, and hopefully everyone else out. The women of the palace have their duties and their roles in life which are carved in stone – seemingly that of this palace. The traditions and cultural events are illustrated on each and every page. Life goes on inside the walls as there is a rumble of war getting louder and louder by the moment…

Sachi is given a mission and it is her duty to obey. But forbidden love here is as forbidden as they come and it will soon distract and change her for ever.

The Edo period of Japan was traditional and duty bound. Rural Samurai ruled the land, the Shogun living in the centre of the palace surrounded by women who were expected to protect him at all costs. The penalties for those who even thought about it. Ritual ceremonies, expectations rules and duties rule all aspects of life.

See more of the Edo period in the displays in the Albert and Victoria Museum