TEAHOUSE FIRE

'When I was nine, in the city now called Kyoto, I changed my fate...What Iasked for? Any life but this one.' When Aurelia flees the fire that killsher missionary uncle and leaves her orphaned and alone innineteenth-century Japan, she has no idea how quickly her wish will beanswered. Knowing only a few words of Japanese she hides in a tea houseand is adopted by the family who own it: gradually falling in love withboth the tea ceremony and with her young mistress, Yukako. As Aureliagrows up she devotes herself to the family and its failing fortunes in theface of civil war and western intervention, and to Yukako's love affairsand subsequent marriage. But her feelings for her mistress are neverreciprocated and as tensions mount in the household Aurelia begins torealise that to the world around her she will never be anything but anoutsider. A lushly detailed, spellbinding story, "The Teahouse Fire" is anunforgettable debut.