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.

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.

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 becoming Japan's leading dress designer. To summarise the plot makes the book sound rather sensational but infact it is an absorbing and sensitive account of Japanese society before the the Second World War. Mary Mackenzie makes an almost convicning tranformation in this book from prim Sctoch maiden to wordly businesswoman, but the real interest of this book lies in the fascinating portrait it gives of Japanese Society. Definitely worth reading by anyone who enjoyes the recent bestseller Memoirs of a Geisha.

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, gradually though the eyes of the seasoned and successful stranger in a strange land whom she becomes. But, I never quite believed in her insights. For the most part, they seemed far too much like what a woman of the last half of the 20th century would think that a girl/woman of the early years of the 20th century should have felt. Although she is suppose to be from Scotland, she never did understand the difference between the Scots and Scotch! I did not understand her lasting fascination with her Japanese lover. Certainly he did not treat her very well. Not much better, in fact, than her mother or her husband, who was never developed at all. Toward them and her daughter, she was almost without feeling. Yet, for reasons I could not see in the way their relationship was portrayed, she was willing to be available to Count Kurihama and the son he took from her, whenever the Count wanted. I found her relationships to be very unsatisfying. She had many hardships but also was more lucky in business, etc. than seemed a natural outgrowth of her experience or skill. I found the book unsatisfying, struggled to finish it, and would not read another book by the same author.

It really was a fascinating account of early 20th century China and Japan, and even a little Scotland. I'm not convinced it was historically accurate though- or at least I'd like to believe so. I have my doubts about the heroine "losing her milk" or not having enough for her daughter. We hear about that a lot currently, but I would hope that she had an experienced European community- however stuffy- to help her figure it all out. Wynd was able to portray her, via her diary and letters, in a way that let me feel like I really knew her and could go visit her Japanese home. Parts of her story will make those of us with young children very sad.