Lesley Downer

Lesley Downer’s mother was Chinese and her father a professor of Chinese, so she grew up in a house full of books on Asia.But it was Japan, not China, that proved the more alluring.She lived there for a total of some fifteen years.It has been an ongoing love affair.

She has written many books about the country and its culture.To research Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World, she lived among the geisha and little by little found herself being transformed into one of them. Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West, is the story of the turn-of-the-century Japanese actress who was the model for Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.

Lesley has presented television programmes on Japan for Channel 4, the BBC and NHK.She lives in London with her husband, the author Arthur I. Miller, and still makes sure she goes to Japan every year. The Last Concubine is her first novel.

If you like Lesley Downer you might also like to read books by Lisa See, Julia Gregson and Victoria Hislop

The Courtesan and the Samurai Lesley Downer Inspired by real historical events, this utterly engrossing sweeping historical novel blends fact and fiction, suspense and sensuality in an epic story of love at a time of war. It will have you hooked from page one. Lesley Downer's debut... Format: Paperback - Released: 17/03/2011 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

The Last Concubine Lesley Downer Shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2009. Straddling the civil war in Japan in the mid-19th century, this is the story of an adopted girl, Sachi, who rises to be the chief concubine of the Shogun. The ladies of... Format: Paperback - Released: 12/02/2009 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

The Last Concubine Lesley Downer Shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2009. Set in Japan in the late 19th century this is an epic love story and a fascinatingly well researched historical novel to boot. The 1880's in Japan were a time of revolution,... Format: Hardback - Released: 11/02/2008 Lovereading Price: £9.74 - Saving £3.25 (25%)