The Tokaido Road [Paperback]

Lucia St. Clair Robson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2005

After the execution of her father, the young and beautiful Lady Asano is in grave danger from the powerful Lord Kira. In order to save herself Asano must find Oishi, the leader of the fighting men of her clan. She believes he is three hundred miles to the southwest in the imperial city of Kyoto.
Disguising her loveliness in the humble garments of a traveling priest, and calling herself Cat, Lady Asano travels the fabled Tokaido Road. Her only tools are her quick wits, her samurai training, and her deadly, six foot-long naginata. And she will need them all, for a ronin has been hired to pursue her, a mysterious man who will play a role in Cat's drama that neither could have ever imagined. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robson bases this romance on an actual feud and steeps it in the customs and culture of 18th-century Japan. Despite the book's impressive historical detail, its young heroine's picaresque adventures lack a vital spark. (May) *CHILDREN'S
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 18th-century feudal Japan, 47 former retainers of Lord Asano avenged his forced suicide by killing Lord Kira. Robson embellishes this story, giving Asano a daughter by a second wife. When the novel begins, the daughter Kinume, known as Cat, has become a courtesan in the pleasure district of Edo--later Tokyo--to support herself rather than become a nun as had her mother. Trained in the samurai arts, Cat has vowed revenge on Kira. She sets out to find her father's chief councilor, which means a 300-mile trip to Kyoto. Pursued by Kira's hirelings, she is joined on the Tokaido road by a peasant girl, Kasane, and by Hanshiro, a lordless samurai who had been assigned to find Cat. Replete with hand-to-hand battles, rooftop chases, and perilous escapes, their adventures are also rich in details of customs, attire, ritual, and terrain, punctuated with poetry. Written by a former librarian, this depiction of an era commands interest. Recommended for historical fiction collections, especially those building a Far East segment. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/90.
- Ellen Kaye Stoppel, Drake Univ. Law Lib., Des Moines
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305208
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305206
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #607,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Along with my library degree I learned one of life's great truths: you don't have to know all the answers, you just have to know where to find them. As a public librarian in Maryland I gave book-related programs in the local schools. While gathering material for the talks, I ran across the story of Cynthia Ann Parker's life with the Comanches. I told the kids that this was a more fascinating story than anyone could make up.

Shortly after that I went to a science fiction convention and met Brian Daley, author of the Han Solo books. I mentioned Cynthia Ann's story to Brian and his editor who referred me to Pamela Strickler of Ballantine Books. She advised me to, "Write the best story you can, from the heart, to please yourself." In 1982, Ballantine published Ride the Wind, which made the New York Times best sellers list. It also won the Western Writers of America's Spur Award for Best Historical Novel of the year. Now in its 27th printing, WIND was included in the top 100 westerns of the 20th century, and has garnered more than 100 5-star reviews in Amazon.

I've written eight other historical novels that feature people and times seldom mentioned in history texts. I got a kick out of Kirkus Reviews' take on my characters, "...Robson's phosphorescently magnificent gallery of forgotten women whom she's dug up God knows where."

In order of their appearance, the titles are: RIDE THE WIND, WALK IN MY SOUL, LIGHT A DISTANT FIRE, TOKAIDO ROAD, MARY'S LAND, FEARLESS, GHOST WARRIOR, SHADOW PATRIOTS, and LAST TRAIN FROM CUERNAVACA. In June of 2011 Western Writers of America awarded LAST TRAIN FROM CUERNAVACA their Spur award for best long novel of 2010.

A historical novelist must do more than list which generals fought where and when. She tries to re-create the society in which people lived, and she has to make it so vivid that readers can feel as though they're living there too.

I no longer collect a paycheck as a librarian, but my library training helps me find out what people wore, what jokes they told, how they insulted each other, what they ate, how they amused themselves, what diseases laid them low and how they tried to cure them.

As a writer of historical fiction, it's my job to create a plausible reality in a time long gone. A descendant of one of my characters once asked me where I got the stories I told in my book about her family. I told her I had either read them or made them up. She said I couldn't have because those were stories only the family knew. I blamed it on coincidence, but sometimes I do believe that novelists can "predict" the past.

I worry about being mis-marketed as a romance writer. I wonder if those who want happily-ever-after stories will be put off by the grit and gore in mine. I fear that readers who're looking for historical fiction won't pick the books up. Love is a vital part of every period of history and I always include it in my stories. However, it is not the focus.

When I became a librarian in 1975 I could not have imagined I would write even one npovel, much less nine. The internet did not exist then, so I could not have known that one day people from all over the world would get in touch with me. My job is to re-create how other people lived, and yet I could not have imagined the way my own life would unfold. I find it hard to believe that the three following quotes are about my words.

Historian and novelist thomas Fleming wrote about Last Train from Cuernavaca: "A gripping story that takes us deep into the tumultuous years of Mexican history. We need more books like this."

"Shadow Patriots, a Novel of the Revolution" -- From Kirkus Reviews "Few novelists working now have a better grasp of early American history than Robson ...Wholly believable, confidently realized, attention-holding historical fiction."

In 2011 True West Magazine named me Best Living Fiction Writer- "With her greatest achievement to date, 2010's Last Train from Cuernavaca... Lucia St. Clair Robson once again proves a master in prose, descriuption, character development and authenticity via her diligent research. Look for more from this powerful writer."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Walk Through Feudal Japan, December 16, 2001

By 

Bill Sims (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tokaido Road: A Novel of Feudal Japan (Mass Market Paperback)

All the research that Lucia St. Clair Robson has done for this book pays huge dividends for her readers. The journey down "Tokaido Road" is a page-turning adventure, a good read; but the real thrill is that the author pulls the reader into feudal Japan in an unforgetable historical experience.

I was so taken with the novel that I followed up by looking for other things written by Lucia St. Clair Robson and came across "Ride the Wind," the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, a woman raised by a Comanche tribe. It was another incredible culture experience. I learned more about Plains Indian culture in "Ride the Wind" than in all my other combined experiences about Indians.

While I read "Tokaido Road" several years ago, my memories of it are still crystal clear, a sure sign that this is one of the best books I've ever read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tokaido Road, April 22, 2007

By 

Lucia St. Clair Robson "looshr" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tokaido Road (Paperback)

If the person who thinks I lifted scenes from Oliver Statler's Japanese Inn had read more than two books on the subject--Statler's and mine--- she would have realized that he and I probably used many of the same sources in our research. Since both our books are fiction neither of us included a complete bibliography. However, in the Author's Notes I did list several of the 188 sources I consulted while writing The Tokaido Road.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars glorious road, December 11, 2005

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tokaido Road (Paperback)

Lucia St. Clair Robson is back! This time she's a long, long way from her Indian romances. She's in feudal Japan and is telling the story of Cat, a daughter of a betrayed man and her quest to stay alive, avenge her father and just maybe, if it doesn't interfere with her duty, find love.

Once again, as she did in Ride the Wind and Walk in My Soul this talented author takes a real incident or person and weaves a fictionalized account that is so good that even if it didn't happen that way, it should have. The story of the 47 samaurai who avenge their master is filtered through the eyes of Cat, an exceptionally brave, beautiful and tough young woman and the magnificent man who comes to love her.

If you love ancient Japan, if you love soaring, tragic romance, or if you buy anything that Lucia St. Clair Robson writes this new book is for you.