In her first novel, author Lesley Downer explores her fascination with Japanese culture and history in a romanticized look at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate period. The story is certainly a page-turner, but its tendency toward sentimentality reduces it to a superficial treatment of the past.
    Set in Japan in the 1860s, the narrative follows the tumultuous life of Sachi, a fair-skinned villager who finds herself transported to the Edo imperial palace, where she becomes the concubine of the handsome shogun. What follows are Sachi’s attempts to discover not only her true parentage, but also a way of reconciling the impulses of her heart with the calls of duty.
    The novel ostensibly tackles a time of revolution that eventually ends with the Japanese emperor founding the modern  capital of Tokyo. However, romance dominates the story to such an extent that this historical context serves merely as a backdrop to a dressed-up Harlequin plot. Characters are continually being overcome by irrepressible emotion or breaking down as they succumb to melodramatic impulses. This makes for a heightened read, but does so at the expense of a more serious treatment of history.
    Unfortunately, this melodrama is mirrored in the writing itself, which works hard to invoke equally anxious emotions in its readers. When Sachi is reunited with her lover, Shinzaemon, she is so overcome by desire that she is “burning” to consummate their love. Not only is the writing over-emotional, but it also relies heavily on the perceived Japanese exoticism of such items as cherry blossoms, oriental brocade, and samurai weaponry.
    All in all, The Last Concubine is a guiltily enjoyable read that ultimately satisfies, perhaps, precisely because it is so predictable.