Mary-Ellen is a very strong female lead and it’s impossible not to like her, just as it’s impossible not to be drawn into this compelling tale. It’s there, but it’s not the focus of the book – this is a tale about a young woman thrown into a horrible situation by the death of her mother, trying to not only survive but see justice done for the terrible things going on at Jamaica Inn. There’s a little bit of romance, but no more than there is in, for example, my own Wolf’s Head. Jamaica Inn is no bustling drinking den in a busy city, as I expected – it’s a run-down old place, with a murderous landlord whose only patrons are the occasional smugglers who eventually turn out to be much worse than our hero Mary-Ellen suspects. This is a dark book, even darker than Rebecca and, rather than a cast of dozens, only a handful of characters are ever seen. Well, it’s nothing like that (thankfully)! Those could, I suppose, be classed as “romance” novels of a sort, so I expected Jamaica Inn would be much the same – perhaps some young barmaid’s ribald adventures in the titular tavern, fending off drunken oafs and jealous older women before finding love in some unlikely place. In breathtaking prose and inspired by true stories from a devastating and little-known era in Japanese and American history, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.I bought this without even reading the synopsis because it was in a sale on Audible and I had really enjoyed this author’s other books Rebecca ( my review) and My Cousin Rachel ( review).

Setting out to learn the truth behind the letter, Tori’s journey leads her halfway around the world to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption. Tori Kovac, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation - one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family and herself. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.Īmerica, present day. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man - an American sailor, a gaijin - and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family.

Oceans and decades apart, two women are inextricably bound by the secrets between them.

The woman in white audiobook