Jorogumo

By Charlotte Marshall

The Oiran Dochu, a procession of the highest class of courtesan where parades of costumes and pattern dazzle crowds and where spiders cast their threads. Two women become entangled together in a relationship built on admiration, respect, and a mutual hatred. When Mei, a middle class peasant, is taken in by Kiku, a highly acclaimed Tayu, she quickly finds that there is more to her new mistress than how she first appears. As secrets are uncovered and dark fantasies come to light, both women become entrenched in a bloody web of political turmoil, fear and love.