The Fourth String

ANOTHER FASCINATING LOOK INSIDE JAPAN. An American woman takes up the study of music and begins a relationship with her teacher, an older woman. We hear of such relationships but rarely see them explored in detail as they play out over the years. It is an "only in Japan" story that we see from American eyes.

WHERE CULTURE AND PERSONALITY COME TOGETHER: Art is the product of talent, practice, and devotion, and Japanese traditional music is one unique result. This book reveals the tenacity and struggles behind the art, and reveals that the end of art is not so much the final piece but the process of getting there.

A TALE OF TWO WOMEN: The interplay between the author and her Sensei is a fascinating look at two women, both outsiders in some fashion, looking for purpose through art and practice. To be an unconventional woman in Japan is distancing and dangerous.

VERY PROMOTABLE: The author now lives outside Boston and can serve up her book with her own shamisen musical accompaniment. And her story is just the kind of tale that earns feature coverage in the press.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2017: With No Single Big Book, Multiple Memoirs Steal the Show
By Rachel Deahl | Oct 12, 2017, Publishers Weekly
Escapism and connection–this is what buyers at the Frankfurt Book Fair are betting readers want. . . . the tastemakers in the publishing industry spent big on a handful of women's fiction titles, and a bunch of memoirs. While the novels will offer a classic dose of escapism, the memoirs, some insiders mused, can deliver something readers may crave even more in these divisive times: a sense of connection with other people.