Stranger in the Shogun's City A Woman's Life in Nineteenth-Century Japan

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2020, a vivid work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman in Edo - now known as Tokyo - and a portrait of a great city on the brink of momentous change 'Compelling... Deeply absorbing' Guardian The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in 1804 in a village in Japan's snow country and was expected to lead a life much like her mother's. Instead - after three divorces and with a temperament much too strong-willed for her family's approval - she ran away to follow her own path in Edo, the city we now call Tokyo. Stranger in the Shogun's City is a rare, captivating portrait of one woman as she endeavours to recreate herself and her life, and provides a window into the drama and excitement of Japan at a pivotal moment in history.

'Marvellous... Stanley builds up a picture of Tsuneno's world, immersing us in an experience akin to time travel' TLS * Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography 2020 * * Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography 2021 * * Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography *