A Tale Unasked
Lady Nijo author Meredith McKinney translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:2nd Oct '25
Should be back in stock very soon
A new translation of one of classical Japan's greatest literary works
‘It is from a desire not to let this impulse count for nothing that I have written this foolish tale of mine. I have no hope that it will remain for future generations to remember me by’
Japanese noblewoman Lady Nijo was made the Emperor’s concubine aged fourteen and then, after several illicit affairs, was expelled from the palace, becoming a nun and travelling the country in pilgrimage. A Tale Unasked is her extraordinary memoir of her eventful life, lost for centuries and discovered in the Imperial Library. Filled with startling revelations of the secret intrigues, splendour and sexual politics of courtly life, it is also a moving portrait of a woman of rich intelligence and sensitivity trying to survive in a difficult world. This new translation beautifully renders the sinuous elegance of a remarkable work of classical Japanese literature.
Translated by Meredith McKinney
In thirteenth-century Japan, there lived a woman called Lady Nijo. Born into a noble family, she became by turns an imperial concubine, the mother of four children by three different men, and, last of all, a wandering nun. Reading this beautiful translation of her memoirs, you feel as if Nijo were sitting beside you, whispering her story across the centuries that divide her world from ours. -- Dr Janine Beichman
ISBN: 9780241562468
Dimensions: 197mm x 129mm x 16mm
Weight: 218g
288 pages