Set in the Salpetriere asylum, Josephine struggles with amnesia and is labeled as hysterical, a condition that captivates both the public and the renowned doctor Jean-Martin Charcot. As she becomes a star attraction through hypnosis, her bond with Laure, a compassionate ward attendant, deepens into a romantic connection. With Josephine's memories resurfacing, she grapples with the fear of a crime she believes she committed, prompting Laure to uncover the truth about Josephine while planning their escape from the asylum's confines.
Vztah mezi Avou Fisherovou a její matkou Ilse nikdy nebyl bezproblémový. Ve vzduchu viselo příliš mnoho otázek. Kdo je Avin otec? Co dělala Ilse za války? Proč svou jedinou dceru nechala v posledním válečném roce v německém sirotčinci? Nyní ale z Německa dorazily Ilsiny ostatky a s nimi i složka neodesla ných dopisů adresovaných neznámé ženě: Renate Bauerové, přítelkyni z dětství. Matčiny dopisy odhalují temnou minulost a Ava se noří do šokujícího příběhu ženy, kterou nikdy doopravdy neznala.
The Courtesan was inspired by the real life of a woman who lived and loved in the extraordinary twilight decades of the Qing dynasty. To this day, Sai Jinhua is a legend in her native land of China, and this is her story, told the way it might have been. The year is 1881. Seven-year-old Jinhua is left an orphan, alone and unprotected after her mandarin father’s summary execution for the crime of speaking the truth. She is sold to a brothel-keeper and subjected to the worst of human nature. Will the private ritual that is her father’s legacy and the wise friendship of the crippled brothel maid be enough to sustain her? When an elegant but troubled scholar takes Jinhua as his concubine, she enters the close world of his jealous first wife. Yet it is Jinhua who accompanies him--as Emissary to the foreign devil nations of Prussia, Austro-Hungary, and Russia--on an exotic journey to Vienna. As he struggles to play his part in China's early, blundering diplomatic engagement with the western world, Jinhua’s eyes and heart are opened to the irresistible possibilities of a place that is mesmerizing and strange, where she will struggle against the constraints of tradition and her husband’s authority and seek to find “Great Love.” Sai Jinhua is an altered woman when she returns to a changed and changing China, where a dangerous clash of cultures pits East against West.
In 1913 an orphan girl boards a steamship bound for Wuhu in South East China. Left in the hands of her soft-hearted but opium-addicted uncle she is delivered to the hall of eternal splendour which, with its painted faces and troubling cries in the night, seems destined to break her spirit. And yet the girl survives and one day hope appears in the unlikely form of a customs inspector, a modest man resistant to the charms of the corrupt world that surrounds him but not to the innocent girl who stands before him.
Reminiscent of "Memoirs of a Geisha," this novel is a re-imagining of the life of Pan Yuliang and her transformation from prostitute to post-Impressionist.
