A literary sensation and runaway bestseller， this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan s most celebrated geisha.Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate， Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929， when， as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes， she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono， elaborate makeup， and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men s solicitude and the money that goes with it. In Memoirs of a Geisha， we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic， erotic， suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.