A powerful and emotionally charged story about a woman's struggle to reconcile different loves and different parts of her spirit

By the author of The Red Tent , this title explores the burden of secrets, the weight of grief and the redemptive power of female friendship. When Kathleen meets Joyce, Kathleen has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and Joyce is taking stock of her marriage and family.

Summoning up more than 20 years of Japan's most dramatic history, the geisha's story uncovers a hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. It moves from a small fishing village in 1929 to the glamorous and decadent Kyoto of the 30s and on to postwar New York.

This work weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the mountains and small farms of southern Appalachia. It portrays various people who find their connections to one another, and to the flora and fauna with whom they share a place.

* Reissued in a new look is this richly imagined historical novel that combines mystery, history, politics and passion in a story of gripping power, from the author of SACRED HEARTS