The Court Dancer: A Novel

"It is 1891. Yi Jin is the most accomplished dancer at the court of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, at a time when it is still largely sequestered from the rest of the world. The novel follows this orphan girl’s adventures as she moves to Paris with her Western husband and becomes celebrated as the only Korean woman in Paris. Identity is the central, defining conundrum: If Yi Jin is not a Korean lady or a French madame, what is she? Sorrow threads itself through these pages, yet there is a richness both to the period and the narrative as beautiful as any silk fan."