The novel is built now on the epistolary mode, sometimes on the mode of the diary. But this does not discourage future reader. The path of history is clear since it is always the heroine, Mary, who writes. "A ginger smell" starts it's an English girl of the bourgeoisie promised to a wealthy settler living in China. After a long boat trip which leads the Chinese coast, Mary was soon disillusioned. The trouble coping difficulties, the contemptuous indifference of her husband push her to commit the irreparable. Thus, his life changed. China to Japan, Mary will constantly fight against male tyranny at a time when the woman is not much. With courage and panache, it crosses the tests which follow. The author applies to trace the evolution of Mary with grace and subtlety, without falling into pathos or sentimentality. Here, no pompous effects in style or narrative but finesse and simplicity. It is not a feminist novel, or even a life lesson, but the great story of a woman who is not less.
