A timeless novel of one woman who bridged two worlds in a tumultuous era of East meets West.

The year is 1881, the era of China's collision with imperialist Europe. Seven-year-old Jinhua is left alone and unprotected, her life transformed after her mandarin father's summary execution for the crime of speaking the truth. As an orphan, she is sold to a brothel keeper and grows up enduring the worst of human nature. When an elegant but troubled scholar takes Jinhua as his concubine, she accompanies him as emissary on an exotic journey to Vienna. Struggling against the constraints of tradition and her husband's authority, she opens her eyes and her heart to the mesmerizing strangeness of this new world and seeks to find "Great Love."
Sai Jinhua is an altered woman when she returns to a changed and changing China, where a terrible clash of East and West is brewing, and where her western sympathies will ultimately threaten not only her own survival but the survival of those who are most dear to her.
The Courtesan is an astonishing tale inspired by the real life of a woman who lived and loved in the twilight of the Qing dynasty. To this day, Sai Jinhua is a legend in her native China, and this is her story, told the way it might have been.

Alexandra Curry's profile page

ALEXANDRA GAMBRILL CURRY, Canadian-born of Austrian and British parentage, has spent happy years living in Asia, Europe, Canada, and the United States. A graduate of Wellesley College, she now lives in Atlanta. The Courtesan is her first novel. The author lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Curry offers a fascinating glimpse into China at the moment foreign influences are sweeping through the country. Narrated from various characters’ points of view, this is not only the story of Jinhua but that of China itself. Highly recommended for fans of Lisa See and Amy Tan."
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Alexandra Curry has a rare talent for bringing the past alive. The story of Jinhua, a little girl sold into prostitution, unfolds against the backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion. It is a wonderful story, told with fairy tale simplicity and no-holds-barred gritty detail. As the story of Jinhua unfolds the reader is swept along, asking herself will there ever be a moment of peace and harmony for this engaging heroine?
—Roberta Rich, bestselling author of The Harem Midwife and The Midwife of Venice
“In her sweeping novel, Alexandra Curry breathes new life into a worthy historical heroine and the unfathomably tumultuous life she led. The Courtesan is a raw, vibrant, and moving tale of love and loss, war and splendor, and the inspiring leading lady who navigates it all, surviving against the odds while also preserving her pure heart and unshakable human decency.”
—Allison Pataki, bestselling author of The Accidental Empress
“A sweeping epic set in a forgotten time, The Courtesan is a beautiful, enchanting book. Full of scandal and intrigue, Curry takes us from Vienna to Peking, from an enchanted girlhood home to the innermost rooms of a brothel to the halls of imperial power. Masterfully told, exquisitely detailed, The Courtesan is a tale I won't soon forget.”
—Anton DiSclafani, bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
“The Courtesan is the best kind of historical fiction—lyrical, sweeping, powered by an extraordinary heroine and extraordinary, world-changing events. Meticulously researched and mesmerizingly poetic, It is the kind of novel that tumbles us effortlessly into the past, in the process reminding us why that past is so important—because in the end, it is separated from our present by the very thinnest of membranes.”
—Jennifer Cody Epstein, internationally bestselling author of The Painter from Shanghai