A chance to win one of these six historical novels!
With the April pub date of The Samurai’s Octopus drawing closer every day, I’ve been thinking a lot about other books featuring young women who overcome their circumstances through their own wit and wiles.
These young women and girls all start out with the deck stacked against them, but manage through daring and cleverness to thwart those who would use them, get the upper hand over those who would oppress them, and (eventually) triumph over the society that tries to put them in their places.
I loved these books, and I hope you will too!
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The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
Year: 1686
Setting: Amsterdam
Main character: An 18-year-old woman who dutifully enters into an arranged marriage with a much older, wealthy merchant in order to rescue her genteel family from the poorhouse.
The pickle she’s in: Newly married, alone in a strange town, she’s met with indifference or hostility from her new relatives. Her husband is often absent and shows no interest in consummating the marriage, but generously gifts her an exquisite model of her new home as a diversion.
The burning questions: What kind of man is her new husband? Why is his sister so hostile to her? And who is sending her exquisite furnishings for her dollhouse, including effigies of people who are all too easy to recognize? Learn more
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Once Upon a River
by Diane Setterfield
Year: 1887
Setting: England
Main character: Pulled from the icy Thames, a beautiful girl child is pronounced dead, but mysteriously revives to become a captivating, mute enigma.
The pickle she’s in: Three families who lost a child, a sister, an illegitimate granddaughter, all try to heal their wounds by claiming her as their own, but she offers no clue to her true identity.
The burning questions: How did she manage to revive after being pronounced dead? Who is she? Which family’s claim is true? Learn more
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The Square of Sevens
by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Year: 1730
Setting: Cornwall, England
Main character: A young girl is raised by her itinerant father, and she helps him earn his living by telling fortunes using a secret, arcane method called the Square of Sevens
The pickle she’s in: Trapped by her obligation to the wealthy man who raises her to be a lady after her father dies, her only way out is to use her gift of fortunetelling to captivate friends in high places and climb the social ladder.
The burning questions: Who was her long-dead mother? Was her father a murderer? Does this girl who rose from the lowest classes actually belong among the highest? Learn more
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Matrix
by Lauren Groff
Year: 1100s
Setting: Western France (governed at that time by the British)
Main character: An inconveniently royal, unattractive, and illegitimate 17-year-old girl is dispatched by Eleanor of Acquitane to become the prioress of an impoverished convent
The pickle she’s in: Her life as a nun is doomed to be nasty, brutish and short if she doesn’t figure out a way for this destitute convent to not only obtain enough money to support the women who live there, but become self-sustaining.
The burning question: How can a woman bound by the rules of the church, the strictures of medieval society and the laws of men figure out a way to thrive and grow in a world that offers her little power over her own destiny? Learn more
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The Marriage Portrait
by Maggie O’Farrell
Year: 1550s
Setting: Florence, Italy
Main character: The teenage daughter of a grand duke, raised to enhance her family’s standing by accepting whichever match is most advantageous to her father.
The pickle she’s in: If she doesn’t manage to produce an heir, she will certainly be cast aside—or disappeared—to make way for a new wife who can.
The burning questions: Who is her husband, really? The appealing man who charmed her on her wedding day, or the ruthless head of a powerful family who will kill her if she doesn’t produce an heir? What can she do to escape that fate? Learn more
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The Samurai’s Octopus
by Jonelle Patrick
Year: 1784
Setting: Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, Edo (Tokyo)
Main character: A young woman being raised by the courtesans in the pleasure house where her mother died giving birth to her.
The pickle she’s in: Exposing the crimes of one powerful man and betraying the secrets of another might win her freedom from a life of indentured servitude in a pleasure house, but is giving up her chance to become a privileged first-rank courtesan worth the risk?
The burning questions: How can a girl born into the lowest position in society triumph over those born into the highest? Learn more
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This month, one lucky subscriber will get their pick!
If it’s your email that pops out of the hat, you can choose any one of these books—ebook or paperback—and I’ll send it to you. Clicking on the book photo will take you to the Amazon page with a fuller description of each, so dive in and choose your favorite, in case you get lucky.
All Japanagram subscribers as of Mar 31, 2026 will be entered to win, so check the April Japanagram to see if you’ve won.
How I pick the book giveaway winners: At the end of March, I will load all the email addresses of current Japanagram subscribers into an online random name picker and ask it to choose one lucky subscriber to get the book from this month’s review. I’ll publish the winner’s email in the next Japanagram (obscured in a way so only the subscriber will be able to recognize it as their own, of course) so check your April Japanagram to see if you won!
If you’d like to be automatically entered to win the book or Japan swag giveaway, subscribe!
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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