Can an impossible love become possible? Nagasaki, 1648 Temperance Marston longs to escape war-torn England and explore the exotic empire of Japan. When offered the chance to accompany her cousin and Captain Noordholt on a trading expedition to Nagasaki, she jumps at the opportunity. However, she soon finds the country's strict laws for foreigners curtail her freedom. On a dangerous and foolhardy venture she meets Kazuo, a ronin. Kazuo is fascinated by her blonde hair and blue eyes, but he has a mission to complete and he cannot be distracted. Long ago, his father was accused of a crime he didn't commit - stealing a valuable jade lioness ornament from the Shogun - and Kazuo must restore his family's honour. But when Temperance is kidnapped and sold as a concubine, he has to make a decision - can he save her and keep the promise he made to his father? AUTHOR: Although born in England, Christina Courtenay has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East. Christina's debut 'Trade Winds' was short listed for the 2011 Romantic Novelists' Association's Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction. 'The Scarlet Kimono' won the 2011 Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award. 'Highland Storms' (in 2012) and 'The Gilded Fan' (in 2014) won the Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year award and 'The Silent Touch of Shadows' won the 2012 Best Historical Read Award from the Festival of Romance. For more information visit: www.christinacourtenay.com SELLING POINTS: * Award-winning author Christina Courtenay's delivers her ninth novel and the third book in the Kumashiro series * 'The Jade Lioness' is set in seventeenth-century Japan and follows on from prize-winning novels, The Scarlet Kimono (2011 Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award) and The Gilded Fan (2014)