The Courtesan and the Samurai - Lesley Downer

An epic story of forbidden love in a time of war by the author of THE LAST CONCUBINE. Japan 1868. Hana is just seventeen when her husband goes to war. When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees across Tokyo and takes refuge in the Yoshiwara, its famous pleasure-quarters. There she is forced to become a courtesan. Yozo, a brilliant swordsman, stands defeated. He makes his way south to the only place where a man is beyond the reach of the law - the Yoshiwara. There in the Nightless City they will meet and share terrible secrets.