Resumo de The Samurai's Wife - Laura Joh Rowland

In The Samurai's Wife, her second novel, Laura Joh Rowland uses subtle plot machinations, beautiful prose, a heady introduction into complex Japanese traditions, imperial intrigue, political maneuvering, a murder without physical weapons and compelling leading characters to pull us irrevocably into the world of 17th century Japan. By the time you have read the short Prologue you are hooked by the combination of a magically beautiful location and a magical, frightening murder by kiai (spirit cry - a powerful, mythical scream that can kill instantly).

Immediately after the murder, we are swept back to the capital of Japan for our first introduction to Sano Ichiro, Samurai and sosokan sama (Most Honorable Investigator for the Shogun). We are also introduced to Sano Ichiro's wife, Reiko, and his chief investigative retainer, Hirata, both to become important players in the drama unfolding before the reader. Reiko and Sano both prove to be interesting characters that both defy and honor the rigid traditions of Japan's patriarchal imperial society. Sano finds the help his wife's agile mind can give him invaluable, while Reiko finds helping with his investigations invigorating and fulfilling. They have an unusually open relationship for this era of Japanese society, and how they deal with convention and adversity adds depth to both the novel itself and their relationships within it.

Both the heroes and villains in this novel are sympathetic and complex, making it incredibly difficult to know which "side" to root for, and in many cases even who is on what side at all. When you couple a novel full of strong, well developed characters with an intricate plot, then throw in a healthy dose of formality and tradition, you get a pleasantly surprising page turner. Going into the novel knowing little about Japan, its history and its culture, I found the novel not only easy to follow but pleasantly educational as well.

Throughout the novel, the characters themselves are pitted one against the other in a constantly shifting array of loyalties, intrigues, plots and deceptions. Masked behind ritual and tradition, no action or reaction is strictly what it seems. This makes Sano's job as investigator hard enough, however; throw in his jealous arch rival Chamberlain Yagisawa and the many plots he launches to disgrace and defeat Sano and his lovely wife Reiko, and the race to solve the mystery of the spirit cry murder becomes ever more difficult.

Sano also fights his own sense of love and tradition throughout the novel, as he battles the inner conflict between his love of his wife, respect for her intelligence and assistance and his sense of tradition coupled with the need to protect his family from harm. His inner conflict over the role of his wife in his life profoundly affects the course of his investigation. As it turns out he has only a shallow understanding of the agility of his wife's mind. She has secrets of her own she keeps in order to retain her active role in Sano's work, and her facile navigation of the intricate web of ritual and deception while secretly assisting him is cause for admiration.

Throughout the novel we are continually led down one path of
possibilities, only to have five more paths revealed at every turn. Nothing remains what it seems for long, and the murder plot grows ever more convoluted as imperial plots, personal grudges and vendettas, secret love affairs, malicious children, crafty servants and other surprises continually complicate things. When we do reach the end of the novel, the twists and turns the plot has taken and the intricacies of each character make the ending a true surprise.

All in all, I consider this one of the better novels I have read over the last few years. When I picked up the book I had not read The Concubine's Tattoo, Rowland's first novel. I am picking up a copy as soon as I can!

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