THE COURTESAN

Narrator Emily Woo Zeller makes this tale of a real woman who lived during the Quing dynasty (1880s) feel as if it's unfolding before our eyes.When 7-year-old Jinhua's father is beheaded, she's sold to a brothel. Daily, she draws a thin red line around her neck with makeup, to remind her of his execution. Jinhua's life in the brothel is filled with misery, the pain of foot-binding, and horror--until a wealthy man takes her home as his concubine. As Jinhua travels from China to the West and back, Zeller's delicate performance establishes a keen sense of place and deftly portrays Jinhua's conflicted emotions as she experiences Western customs, where "they do everything backward." Once Jinhua returns to China, Zeller makes her Western sympathies both convincing and understandable. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2015]