about

"Prose which sings."

"...beyond the usual words of praise. The limpid light of the Japanese moon which suffuses the scene, the sumptuous descriptions that call up Japanese paintings in my mind, the ponderous but light prose...these are just a few of the reasons I find myself smitten with the book....because it is so beautifully written, I find myself longing to read it aloud, to read it to children so that they can hear how beautiful is this language when used by a master."

"At times I could almost hear the storytelling tradition seeping through the prose style."

"[The] prose aptly suggests another time and another world."

The Spirit Captive is a novel lush with the folklore and traditions of ancient Japan, in which an orphaned peasant girl finds herself caught in the machinations of gods, spirits, and monsters, and is forced to make a choice between the health and stability of an ordinary life, or a high yet perilous destiny.

In a house built on a mysterious and fabled mountain in central Japan lives the Lord of Winter, one of the four gods and goddesses who govern the passing of time and the seasons. With the arrival of a cursed letter, he and the spirits which serve him find themselves pawns in a carefully-woven plot, a conspiracy authored by an anonymous figure who is determined to recover something he has lost long ago.

Yet the fortunes of all of these figures, great and small, high and low, will be determined by Oyuki, an ordinary young woman who stands fearfully yet eagerly at the beginning of an arduous and fateful road. Before the story’s end she will see the awe-inspiring valley of the Kiso River, the hellish wastes of the Deep North, and an obscure farming village seemingly hidden away from all the world’s troubles.

The Spirit Captive is a blending of history and culture, drawing from the myriad sources of Japanese tradition. It is a mystery with generous helpings of humor and romance, pathos and tragedy, featuring the traditional ghosts and monsters that are ubiquitous in Japan and are becoming increasingly well-known in America. Oyuki is an uncertain and yet decisive protagonist in an unfamiliar world, determined to prove herself to the spirits who have taken her into their care. Her real plight, quite apart from the uncertainties she faces, is an echoing of a classic motif worldwide: whether she will remain content with a humble, human-scale life, or pass into an alluring existence that is perhaps more glorious, yet full of danger and leading only to tragedy.

Read a sample of The Spirit Captive here!