Silk

'Hara Kei was sitting cross-legged, on the floor...He had on a dark tunic, and wore no jewels.

The only visible sign of his power was a woman lying beside him, unmoving, her head resting on his lap, eyes closed, arms hidden under a loose red robe that spread around her, like a flame, on the ash-coloured mat...' In 1861 French silkworm merchant Herve Joncour travels to Japan, where he encounters the mysterious Hara Kei.

He develops a painful longing for Kei's beautiful ocncubine, but they cannot touch; they do not speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country.

But the moment he does, Joncour is enslaved. Subtle, tender and suprising, Silk is an evocative tale of erotic possession.