Girl in a Box

In early twentieth century Japan, women have few rights. Yet one precocious poeta brooding daughter, locked in her room at night by protective parentsruns away from home to live a life of her choosing.She falls in love with a fellow poet and follows him across Siberia to Paris, where they witness the last days of the Belle Epoque. She perseveres through poverty, back-to-back pregnancies, infidelity, earthquake and fire, to become a name every Japanese schoolchild knows today as a pioneering feminist poet and the first person to translate the classicalTale of Genjiinto modern Japanese. In her single-minded dedication to her art, she inflicts wounds on a daughter that echo from her own childhood. She sets out to make amends, knowing it may be too late.Based on the life of poet Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) and filled with original translations of her poetry,Girl in a Boxwill ignite the discussion about the female artists challenge to create while juggling family, career, and personal freedom. Historical fiction at its best.