"I have spent most of my life in New Jersey, but the blood of a geisha courses through me yet."
If Kiki Takehashi's life is dramatically different from that of her reserved Japanese-American mother, it is light-years away from that of her grandmother, whom she knows only through old family stories. Kiki has recently become engaged to Eric, a handsome, successful New York City lawyer. But at the same time she is haunted--quite literally--by the memory of her friend Phillip, killed the previous year in a mountaineering accident.
Kiki has never met her grandmother Yukiko, for whom she is named. Still, thoroughly American though she is, she feels a secret kinship with her. Kiki is swept up by the story of this strong, proud, passionate woman who, against all odds, in a time and place far different from her own, was sold by her impoverished family, became a famous geisha, and found the love that has so far eluded the rest of the Takehashi women.
Lyrical, haunting, and stunningly evocative, One Hundred and One Ways introduces a powerful and exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.
"Resembles an intelligent cross between the bestselling Memoirs of a Geisha and the haunted-by-a-lost-love movie Ghost."
--The Detroit News
"Cinematic...satisfyingly ambiguous."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Beautifully written, thoughtfully conceived...the writing resonates with authenticity...an impressive accomplishment."
--The Orlando Sentinel
"Authentic and appealing...a lovely, lyrical novel."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer
