Oswald Wynd

In 1903 Mary Mackenzie sails for China to marry the British Military Attache, a man who turns out to be every bit as chilly as the Peking Winter. During one of his many absences, Mary has an affair with a Japanese soldier, Count Kurihama, but her pregnancy is impossible to keep secret. Rejected by husband, mother and country, and forced to leave her daughter behind, Mary flees to Japan. The Ginger Tree tells the fascinating story of her survival, isolated and alone, in this alien culture.

"One of the few contemporary novels to show Japan as it was and is." -- Japan TimesThe classic bittersweet story of love and betrayal in the Far East.A stunning tour de force acclaimed throughout the world, The Ginger Tree is the spellbinding odyssey of one woman's strength and spirit in the face of terrifying odds.In 1903, a young Scotswoman named Mary Mackenzie sets sail for China to marry her betrothed, a military attach in Peking. But soon after her arrival, Mary falls into an adulterous affair with a young Japanese nobleman, scandalizing the British community. Casting her out of the European community, her compatriots tear her away from her small daughter. A woman abandoned and alone, Mary learns to survive over forty tumultuous years in Asia, including two world wars and the cataclysmic Tokyo earthquake of 1923.