Girl in a Box

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1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake
A01=Jean Gordon Kocienda
Author_Jean Gordon Kocienda
Belle Epoque
Category=FBA
debut novel
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
female character historical japan
feminist poet
historical fiction
historical japanese fiction
Japan
japan history
Japanese fiction
Japanese historical fiction
Japanese poet
love story
love triangle
mother-daughter
Paris
Tale of Genji
Tanka poetry
turn of the century
Yosano Akiko

Product details

  • ISBN 9798897400126
  • Dimensions: 135 x 214mm
  • Publication Date: 04 Jun 2026
  • Publisher: Sibylline Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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In early twentieth century Japan, women have few rights. Yet one precocious poet—a brooding daughter, locked in her room at night by protective parents—runs 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 classical Tale of Genji into 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 Box will ignite the discussion about the female artist’s challenge to create while juggling family, career, and personal freedom. Historical fiction at its best.

A former CIA officer and Silicon Valley geopolitical analyst, Jean Gordon Kocienda is now focused on writing and volunteering with refugee families in the Bay Area. Jean holds a B.A. in English Literature (Colgate University) and M.A. in International Affairs (George Washington University). Currently nestled in the redwoods of Marin County with her husband and cats, she has lived in Japan and speaks Japanese. She is Vice President of the California Writers Club Marin Chapter.

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