Govier’s (Creation) lavishly researched and brilliant historical novel, published in Canada last year as The Ghost Brush, is set during Japan’s repressive 19th-century Edo period, when artists and writers were suppressed and Japan hid itself from the outside world. Against that background the author fictionalizes the life of Oei, a little-known Japanese ukiyo-e (an artist of the everyday) whose gender keeps her from the recognition heaped upon her father, Hokusai. When Oei is young, her penniless father seeks artistic inspiration in the seedy Yoshiwara district, as well as with Shino, a young girl sold into prostitution by a vengeful husband. Oei accompanies her father on visits and we see through her eyes how powerless women live. Govier’s light linguistic touch draws readers into an increasingly harrowing tale of artistic crackdowns during which the defiant Hokusai takes to the road to escape the authorities and his creditors, often with his daughter in tow. These trips, later taken by Oei on her own, are fascinating ambulations inconceivable in modern society. Hokusai passes his questioning nature onto his daughter, who is always more mature and responsible than her quixotic father; she manages their meager funds, runs his studio, paints under his direction (and name), and nurses him through illness. Though Hokusai cherishes Oei above his other children (he fathered her at 40), he puts himself first, which is illustrated to heart-breaking effect when he railroads her into giving him one of her commissions. Govier examines women’s subservience to men through the dual narratives of Shino’s sale into prostitution and Oei’s deference to her father, even as two talented men, her lovers, nurture her talent and push her to seek recognition. The episodic nature of the novel, most apparent during a Dutch doctor’s visit to Japan, is its only flaw, and a minor one (at first glance, the doctor seems extraneous, but eventually he becomes more than a device to teach Oei about the outside world). Govier astonishes throughout in her ability to write epic themes intimately, particularly in the lyrical, absorbing, and intense final hundred pages. She illustrates how the clash between change and the forces of the status quo literally hold Oei hostage, with emotionally wrenching results. (Nov.)
Katherine Govier reimagines the overlooked artist in this historically rich tale, based on a true story and crafted with vivid imagery.” — Marie Claire
“Lavishly researched and brilliant. . . . Govier astonishes throughout in her ability to write epic themes intimately, particularly in the lyrical, absorbing, and intense final hundred pages.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Govier’s expansive historical novel turns the spotlight on Oei, the “ghost brush” attributed to some of her father’s famous prints, and a character that drives a compulsively readable novel.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“From the hothouse ferment of art studios, bordellos, and Kabuki theater to the tonic countryside, Govier’s spectacularly detailed, eventful, and emotionally stormy novel is populated by vivid characters and charged with searing insights into Japanese history and the diabolically difficult lives of women and artists.” — Booklist (starred review)
“If you read one novel this year by a writer you may be unfamiliar with, read THE PRINTMAKER’S DAUGHTER by Katherine Govier; even if you are familiar with Ms. Govier’s novels, this one is unmatched literary fiction.” — New York Journal of Books
If you read one novel this year by a writer you may be unfamiliar with, read THE PRINTMAKER’S DAUGHTER by Katherine Govier; even if you are familiar with Ms. Govier’s novels, this one is unmatched literary fiction.
New York Journal of Books
Govier’s expansive historical novel turns the spotlight on Oei, the “ghost brush” attributed to some of her father’s famous prints, and a character that drives a compulsively readable novel.
From the hothouse ferment of art studios, bordellos, and Kabuki theater to the tonic countryside, Govier’s spectacularly detailed, eventful, and emotionally stormy novel is populated by vivid characters and charged with searing insights into Japanese history and the diabolically difficult lives of women and artists.
Booklist (starred review)
Katherine Govier reimagines the overlooked artist in this historically rich tale, based on a true story and crafted with vivid imagery.
"From the hothouse ferment of art studios, bordellos, and Kabuki theater to the tonic countryside, Govier’s spectacularly detailed, eventful, and emotionally stormy novel is populated by vivid characters and charged with searing insights into Japanese history and the diabolically difficult lives of women and artists."
"Govier’s expansive historical novel turns the spotlight on Oei, the "ghost brush" attributed to some of her father’s famous prints, and a character that drives a compulsively readable novel."
After 2003's Creation, named a New York Times Notable Book, Canadian author Govier attempts to win over American audiences once again with this retitled work (published as Ghost Brush in Canada). The youngest daughter of then-struggling real-life Japanese artist Hokusai, Oei narrates the story of her life with her father, whom she affectionately calls "old man," and her role as his apprentice and eventual caretaker. Set in the lush Edo period between 1800 and 1867, the novel nonchalantly describes Oei's early encounters with courtesans; she even develops a close relationship with her father's beloved Shino, only ten years her senior. In Oei, Govier offers readers a portrait of an independent-minded woman with no qualms about having affairs, smoking a pipe, and divorcing a husband after a decade of marriage because he expected her to cook. VERDICT Although not as gifted as Anchee Min in characterizing her female protagonist, Govier nonetheless gives readers an engrossing narrative worth their time. The accompanying afterword describing the author's research is also noteworthy, as it melds fact with Govier's fiction to let readers decide for themselves what Oei's role might have been in her famous father's work.—Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
The gifted daughter of a 19th-century Japanese artist chafes at her society's restrictions on women. Based on exhaustive research into the life of famed painter and printmaker Hokusai, this novel postulates that much of his work, particularly in his dotage, was actually that of his daughter and chief protégée, Oei. Born in 1800 in Edo (now Tokyo), Oei is her father's favorite, and his only child displaying a talent for drawing equal to his own. Oei follows her father to the Yoshiwara, the licensed red-light district of Edo, where he sketches the courtesans. Among these is Shino, a noblewoman sold into prostitution as punishment for some unknown transgression. Shino becomes Hokusai's mistress and teaches the young Oei manners and martial arts. After Shino marries, Hokusai and Oei travel throughout Japan and Hokusai becomes obsessed with the sea, which will be the subject of his best-known masterpiece, Great Wave Off Kanagawa . Never considered pretty (her prominent jaw earns her the nickname Ago-Ago, or chin-chin), Oei attracts lovers with her wit and talent and charms a Dutch art connoisseur. A brief marriage ends in divorce because Oei eschews housework and smokes and drinks sake like a man. For Hokusai, family exists only to serve his art. After his other children (and wives) either flee or die, Oei becomes her father's sole partner and caregiver. Their fortunes wax and wane with the vagaries of artistic fashion, not to mention the caprices of the ruling Shogun and his censors. Among their bestselling products are Beauties, scrolls depicting life among the courtesans, and shunga --pornography. As Hokusai ages (his life-span extends to an unheard-of, for that period, 90), he suffers from palsy, and Oei acts as his ghost-painter. While symbiotically joined to her father, Oei wonders if, after helping to prolong her father's life, she will ever have her own. Although her story is hamstrung by an episodic and gangly narrative structure, Oei's quandary will resonate with female artists today.
