The Ginger Tree

This is the best example of the East-meets-West genre to come my way in ages. Written mainly as the diary extracts of an innocent Scottish girl who sails out just after the turn of the century for her proper marriage to a British military attache in China, the novel tells of her subsequent scandalous love affair with a Japanese aristocrat. Wynd's tight control of high passion supports one of my theories: the isles of Japan are the true antipodes to the British isles and their funny ways have much in commong with ours. Irma Kurtz latest book is 'Dear London'. (Kirkus UK)