The Painted Cage

Based on a true story, Meira Chand's The Painted Cage explores the tragedy of a Victorian woman who becomes the victim of her own sensuality. In Yokohama, Japan, on the morning of January 5th 1897, the trial begins of Amy Redmore, charged with the murder of her husband Reggie, ex-secretary of the Yokohama United Club. Marriage had transported Amy - an heiress 15 years her husband's junior - from the green fields of Somerset, and along the way she discovered disturbing truths about Reggie: his mistress and secret child, his addiction to arsenic. In colonial Yokohama the couple began to lead separate lives, with fatal consequences. 'The scope of this novel and ... its various beautiful images of imprisonment make the book its author's most substantial achievement.' Times Literary Supplement 'Meira Chand writes with great power.' Women's Review