A Woman of Pleasure

About

In 1903, fifteen-year-old Ichi is sold to the most exclusive brothel in Kumamoto, Japan. Under the mentorship of Shinonome, the highest-ranking courtesan, she learns the intertwined currencies of sex and money. In mandatory school lessons, her writing instructor Tetsuko teaches the women something more dangerous: how to think clearly and speak for themselves. Together, the women organize a strike — walking out of the brothel and into the possibility of lives they choose. Based on real events in Meiji-era Japan, Kiyoko Murata recreates the brutal vitality of the red-light district with unflinching detail — the survival skills passed between generations, the bonds forged under exploitation, the power of owning your own language. A Woman of Pleasure is a novel about the moment captive women discover that solidarity is a weapon — and use it.