Memoirs of a Geisha is a rare and utterlyengaging expenence. The extraordinary taleof Sayuri, a young girl, who grows up tobecome an acclaimed geisha.

One evening in the spring of 1936, when I was a boy of four teen, my father took me to a dance performance in Kyoto. I remember only two things about it...

Memoirs of a Geisha is a rare and utterlyengaging expenence. The extraordinary taleof Sayuri, a young girl, who grows up tobecome an acclaimed geisha, it spans aquarter of a century, from 1929 to the postwar years of Japan's dramatic history, andopens a window onto a half-hidden worldof eroticism and enchantment, exploitationand degradation.

Loved by readers and critics'alike, Mernoirs ofa Geisha was made into a film in 2005 forwhich a set of 1920s Gion Was constructedoutside Los Angeles after it was judged thatthe real life Gion district of Kyoto looked toomodern. The film was banned in China butwent on to win three Oscars.