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THE TEAHOUSE FIRE: bookseller reviews When nine-year-old Aurelia Caillard moves to Japan with her missionary uncle in 1865, she can't foresee how dramatically her life will change. After losing her uncle in a fire, she's taken in by the Shin family, master teachers of the tea ceremony. Aurelia's struggle to fit into such a strict society echoes Japan's larger cultural changes as the nation arrives at a crossroad between new and old. This debut novel is sure to draw you in.--Megan Sullivan, Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA Thank you, Harvard Book Store, for making my book a Booksense pick for January and for choosing my book for your Select Seventy program! The tumultuous final years of the nineteenth century are brought to life in this unique novel of Japan. After a fire a young girl, Aurelia, is discovered sleeping in the prominent Shin family's teahouse. She is accepted into the family as a companion to teenage Yukako. From Aurelia's perspective we are introduced to chado, The Way of Tea, a remarkably beautiful ceremony. As Western culture invades Japan, the Shins must find a way to perpetuate the tradition of tea. The Teahouse Fire is a story of contrasts: modest and erotic, stoic and impassioned, Eastern and Western. --Jane Darrah, Elliott Bay Book Company. Thank you, Elliott Bay, for having me come read in January, and for choosing my novel for your Maiden Voyages program! MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA touched millions of readers and movie goers with its depiction of survival, adaptation, loyalty, and love in a transitioning Japan. Drop back a few decades earlier to 1865 when a little girl whose ailing mother is dying is carried off to Japan by her missionary uncle. He vanishes in a fire, leaving Aurelia Bernard, orphaned, to the mercy of an introverted, ceremonial culture. Aurelia finds a haven with Yukako, a daughter of the Shin family who are master teachers of temae, the ancient tea ceremony. Aurelia becomes Yukako's servant and sister, her gratitude morphing into puppy love and finally into a more painful, mature, and unrequited passion. Against a background of a rapidly Westerizing society, conflict spreads into the teahouse, forcing the characters to adapt ancient cultural rites to a new order. Confrontations are inevitable. Like Arthur Golden, Avery crafts a bildungsroman, a shaping of lives, throught an alluring blend of history, psychology, and love story. As the clash between Islam and the West builds today, this, our new Modern Firsts Pick, speaks to us all about the inevitability of change and the need for tolerance. --The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ. Thank you, Poisoned Pen, for choosing my book for your Modern Firsts program! This wonderful, well-written novel is just terrific. Jammed with interesting detail about the Japanese Tea Ceremony, this is the story of an American orphan raised in secret by the Japanese owners of a tea ceremony school. In the course of my reading I was astonished at all I learned about the cultural significance of the color, pattern, and layering in Kimono designs. Book clubs should definitely consider this book. A January BookSense selection! --Donna Plante, Bookin' It, Little Falls, MN, who named the book a Staff Pick. I finished THE TEAHOUSE FIRE last week...I have always enjoyed historical fiction because I feel I can learn something, while being entertained rather than lectured. But most of my readings have dealt with American history, so I liked learning more about Japanese history and culture. This was a very compelling story. The attention to details was phenomenal; I felt as if I could picture everything as I read along." --Becky, Joseph-Beth Books in Lexington, KY Special thanks too to the many bookstores (and tea shops!) who have hosted me at readings and tea ceremony events, and to every bookstore who has treated my book kindly. These include: Powell's Books, of Portland, OR. who hosted me and ran an essay about the writing of THE TEAHOUSE FIRE on their website. The Columbia University Bookstore, NYC. Big Blue Marble Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA. Log Cabin Literary Center, Boise, ID. Three Lives Books, NYC. The Book Cellar, Chicago, IL. Liberty Books, at Lane Avenue, Columbus, OH. Oblong Books and Music, Rhinebeck, NY. Red Maple Books, Ghent, NY. Outwrite Books, Atlanta, GA. tru-teas, Buffalo, NY. Cody's Books, Berkeley, CA. Bookshop West Portal, San Francisco, CA. Books Incorporated, San Francisco, CA. Bryn Mawr College Bookshop, Bryn Mawr, PA. Barnes&Noble, Astor Place, NYC McNally Robinson Books, NYC. Books&Books, Coral Gables, Miami, FL. THANK YOU!!! xo, Ellis |
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