Life in Review: “The Printmaker’s Daughter” by Katherine Govier

 

The Printmaker’s Daughter by Katherine Govier is a richly told story of a real historical person, Oei, who was the daughter of a famous artist in nineteenth century Japan.

In nineteeth-century Edo, most girls were raised by their mothers to be subservient, meek, and groom them for a future as a wife. Oei was raised by her father, Hokusai, who was an artist, and who ran in a circle with other artists, actors, writers, courtesans, and took his daughter everywhere he went. She was his assistant and he taught her how to paint and how to keep the books for his studio. Many said that she actually became better than her father, but she remained devoted to serving him.

If you enjoy Japanese history and culture, you will enjoy this story and I would highly recommend it. It’s not a fast-paced thriller. If you’re looking for mystery and suspense, this isn’t your type of read. This is a story that immerses you in an exotic culture of a different time and place. One that is so extremely different than anything we can relate to. It was fascinating to me to see the reality of the lives of women in this culture during that time. Oei was a very strong woman, which was extremely rare and most people blamed her father for what was seen as a flaw in her. There are so many rich and compelling characters that I had such mixed feelings about, but regardless, I definitely felt strongly about them. I did love Oei, no matter what. I’m not sure how I felt about her father. In his own way I know that he loved her in a special way, but he really wasn’t very kind to her. And their strong bond and her total devotion to him held her back her whole life.

The writing is quite beautiful and the author paints beautifully vivid pictures that will carry you away to another time and place. I feel connected to Oei and I know that it’s even stronger because she was a real person rather than just a fictional character. This is the first of Ms Govier’s books that I have read, but I will definitely be looking for more of her work.

Book Summary:

Recounting the story of her life, Oei plunges us into the colorful world of nineteenth-century Edo, in which courtesans rub shoulders with poets, warriors consort with actors, and the arts flourish in an unprecedented moment of creative upheaval. Oei and Hokusai live among writers, novelists, tattoo artists, and prostitutes, evading the spies of the repressive shogunate as they work on Hokusai’s countless paintings and prints. Wielding her brush, rejecting domesticity in favor of dedication to the arts, Oei defies all expectations of womanhood—all but one. A dutiful daughter to the last, she will obey the will of her eccentric father, the man who created her and who, ultimately, will rob her of her place in history.

Vivid, daring, and unforgettable, The Printmaker’s Daughter shines fresh light on art, loyalty, and the tender and indelible bond between a father and daughter.

Buy The Printmaker’s Daughter: A Novel

About Katherine Govier

Katherine Govier is a winner of the Toronto Book Award and Canada’s Marian Engel Award for a woman writer in mid-career. Her novel Creation, about John James Audubon in Labrador, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She lives in Toronto.

Visit her website at www.theprintmakersdaughter.com, and connect with her on Facebook.

Katherine’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, November 22nd: Melody & Words

Wednesday, November 23rd: Books Like Breathing

Friday, November 25th: nomadreader

Monday, November 28th: Raging Bibliomania

Tuesday, November 29th: A Few More Pages

Wednesday, November 30th: Life In Review

Tuesday, December 6th: Life in the Thumb

Wednesday, December 7th: The Lit Witch

Thursday, December 8th: Unabridged Chick

Friday, December 9th: Amused By Books

Monday, December 12th: Iwriteinbooks’s blog

Tuesday, December 13th: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, December 14th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

This book was provided for review by Harper Perennial.

Blessings

Michelle V

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