Haunting tale of transformation!
"Memoirs" is an achingly beautiful story told by Chiyo, a small girl growing up in desperate poverty in an obscure, fishing village of Yoroido, Japan where Chiyo's father is a fisherman. Chiyo's mother is dying from a terminal disease. As her mother lies dying, Chiyo and her older sister Satsu are taken in by neigbors where Chiyo thinks they will be kindly adopted. However, the sisters find themselves unexpectedly sold. They are taken to the town of Kyoto, and cruelly separated. Because of her striking gray eyes, Chiyo is taken into a Geisha house of training. Life in the okiya is difficult as Chiyo adjusts to the rigorous demands of Auntie, Granny and Mother, Pumkin, and the haughty and cruel Geisha Hatsumomo. Chiyo, grows from a small, ignorant child to a woman of high regard. The transformation of this young innocent is shrouded within the mysterious, beautiful, sacred, difficult, and unimaginable world of the Geisha culture. I could not put this book down!
