The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel: A Novel [Paperback]

Maureen Lindley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

An electrifying epic, based on the incredible true story of a Chinese princess turned spy.

Peking, 1914. When the eight-year-old princess Eastern Jewel is caught spying on her father’s liaison with a servant girl, she is banished from the palace, sent to live with a powerful family in Japan. Renamed Yoshiko Kawashima, she quickly falls in love with her adoptive country, where she earns a scandalous reputation, taking fencing lessons, smoking opium, and entertaining numerous lovers. Sent to Mongolia to become an obedient wife, Yoshiko mounts a daring escape and eventually finds her way back to Peking high society—this time with orders from the Japanese secret service.

Based on the true story of a rebellious woman who earned a controversial place in history, The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel is a vibrant reimagining of a thrilling life—a rich historical epic of palace intrigue, sexual manipulation, and international espionage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on the life of a Qing dynasty princess, this engrossing debut gives the rebellious Eastern Jewel a sensuous, unsentimental voice that draws admiration despite remorseless selfishness. In 1914 Manchuria, the curious, headstrong eight-year-old is sent to live with her father's blood brother Kawashima, who adopts her and renames her Yoshiko. She settles into her new life as a second-tier family member, at odds with the stepmother she secretly longs to please. Precocious, rebellious and beautiful, Yoshiko loses her virginity to her adopted grandfather at 15 and is seduced by her adopted father a year later; her further sexual adventures eventually leave her sterile. Inevitably, Kawashima marries her off, to a Mongolian prince. Unhappy in Mongolia, Yoshiko escapes to Tokyo, where she becomes a professional mistress, and then to Shanghai. As Japan and China tumble into war, one of Yoshiko's new lovers recruits her as a spy; American reporter Jack Stone soon arrives to further complicate matters of loyalty and righteousness. This lush, challenging portrait of a woman who dared to make her own choices—bad though they were—in terrible, oppressive times also makes a steamy historical beach read. (Sept.)
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Review

"An engrossing debut... This lush, challenging portrait of a woman who dared to make her own choices—bad though they were—in terrible, oppressive times also makes a steamy historical beach read." —Publishers Weekly

 

"Intriguing... Elevates a fascinating bit player to the main stage by reimagining the twists and turns of her extraordinary life." —Booklist

 

“Riveting—Maureen Lindley brings Eastern Jewel and her world vividly to life with a wealth of fascinating details in this captivating novel.”—Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans

“A breathtaking account of a ruthless and beautiful princess who betrays her heritage to spy for the Japanese.”—Adeline Yen Mah, bestselling  author of Falling Leaves

“An exotic story of sexual promiscuity, opium and opulence… A promising work.”—Mail on Sunday (UK)

“Essential … The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel proves fact is stranger than fiction. It’s a thrilling read.”—Harper’s Bazaar (UK)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596917032
• ISBN-13: 978-1596917033
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Eastern Jewel's Private Papers should have stayed private., July 26, 2009

By 

Suzi Hough "The Fashion Piranha!" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel: A Novel (Paperback)

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In `The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel' Maureen Lindley has managed to take the life of a real Chinese-princess-turned-Japanese-spy and turned it into a tawdry jumble of sexual escapades and self-centered whining. To take a life as interesting as Eastern Jewel's and render it into little more than a celebration of Oriental exoticism is disappointing, to say the least.
The first major problem is Lindley's narrative doesn't quite ring with authenticity. Her descriptions of people and places have a strange detachment; objects and clothing might be detailed exquisitely but people and their personalities come across as flat and two-dimensional. I feel like there were very few attempts to understand the Chinese, Mongolian and Japanese cultures, and really bring them to life in the novel. Instead, Asia serves an exotic background that enables the author to unleash one sexual fantasy after another.
Eastern Jewel, later called Yoshiko in Japan, is too modern and too European in her ideas, so that one has to wonder how this personality would come about if she was raised first in a Chinese palace and later in a lax-but-still-thoroughly-Japanese household. She doesn't make sense in her settings and surroundings. She insists from the very first page that she is unique, an individual, an outsider, and different from other women. This book, supposedly a memoir she wrote while jailed for spying, has Eastern Jewel showing off her "worldliness" and sense of style, and it comes off as both arrogant and annoying. For example, as she speaks of servant:
"Every day I sent her to the market for fresh flowers, as I hated to see even the smallest sign of decay on the lilies and the sprays of orange blossom that I favoured. I cared nothing for the extravagance and in any case I think that Miura sold on the day-old flowers to the nearby hotel that rented its rooms by the hour. As far as I was concerned she was welcome to the few coins she made from the transactions. I have always thought it a good policy to be a generous mistress. Envy and deprivation are the enemies of loyalty, after all."
I don't know. To me she comes off as picky, spoiled, and utterly obnoxious to be around. It's really hard to get into a character who thinks she is so wonderful and wise, and also refuses to see any flaws in her approach to life. If I can't warm up to the character, and the plot has been shoved so far behind the main character's personality that it barely appears...well, I just can't enjoy the book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars don't waste your time, July 16, 2009

By 

engk916 "engk916" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel: A Novel (Paperback)

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i don't know what to make of this book - it attempts to fit many genres (erotica, historical fiction, romance, etc) and fails miserably at all of them. this is the exact opposite of Memoirs of a Geisha(which is the book you should be reading if you want something in the aforementioned genres).

"eastern jewel" reads like a nancy drew novel set in the early 19th century that blatantly tries (and fails) to use a cultural backdrop to add depth to an insipidly weak story. i say nancy drew because it tries to evoke a feeling of suspense and excitement in an extremely juvenile manner. i don't want to insult nancy drew fans, because that series is much more interesting that this book, and way less torturous to read!

the book jacket is probably the most sophisticated part of the book. some other reviewers thought there was too much sex, but i couldn't even be offended by it because it was so badly written. almost every sentence starts with "I". "I looked at his snake", "I took his snake into my pit", "I talked to natsuko afterwards". well, *I* almost broke out laughing! the worst part was that a different sex scenario is presented just about every 2 pages, to give you an idea of how much plot/character development happens (almost zero) and how much the author draws the reader into the excitement (she doesn't).

it was almost painful to read this book, after page 20 i kept flipping ahead and wondering, does this story actually go anywhere?? it didn't.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Inward Journey, August 11, 2009

By 

switterbug (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel: A Novel (Paperback)

This is very much a psychological exploration of a woman who is both formidable and vulnerable. I felt acutely Eastern Jewel's sense of loss and abandonment and her combination of tenacity and impotence.

I see that the reviews for this book are generally unfavorable, but I think I know why. The blurbs for this novel indicate that it is an historical epic about a Manchu Princess who was also a spy. This is true, but also misleading. The author's approach is very internal and tightly focused--I am not surprised that author Maureen Lindley was trained as a psychotherapist. The character of Eastern Jewel is viewed through her psyche. It is very much a character exploration through a personal and Freudian lens. When Eastern Jewel is banished from her own home in Peking as a child for spying on her father's sexual congress with a young girl, the seeds for her loss of identity are planted. She is sent to Japan, which becomes her beloved adopted country. She is then removed from Japan and sent to the harsh, frozen climate of Mongolia to marry a man against her will. By this time, she has already been forced to fornicate with an old man and her adoptive father in Japan, who is both brutal and sadistic. However, she learns to appreciate it, and to enjoy the power of her sexuality. Through sex, Eastern Jewel discovers her capacity to manipulate men in order to navigate through an otherwise circumscribed life.

There is much pathos in this Princess of moral ambiguity who is determined to do more than survive. In a world where men reign and woman are second-class citizens, she vows to live a liberated, independent life and achieve a sense of personal identity. Additionally, her contradictory feelings toward the mother figures in her life are both heartbreaking and tender. She is a very complex woman with a passionate, vital nature. The erotic scenes in this story are not pulpy and vulgar--it is not a bodice ripper. Rather, her sexuality is her survival.

The prose is sensuous and lyrical and never disingenuous. The fluidity of the narrative keeps the pages turning and the story compelling. This novel is not for everyone. It is not a detailed historical epic of many lives and it is decidedly not similar to Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel. Rather, it is a profile of one rebellious woman's inner journey to survive and ultimately thrive by using her sexuality and her skill of spying to eclipse the constraints of her life.