The year is 1853, and a young Japanese girl-s world is about to be turned upside down.
When black ships carrying barbarians arrive on the shores of Japan, the Satsuma clan-s way of life is threatened. But it-s not just the samurai who must come together to fight: the beautiful, headstrong Okatsu is also given a new destiny by her feudal lord - to save the realm.
Armed only with a new name, Princess Atsu, as she is now known, journeys to the women-s palace of Edo Castle, a place so secret it cannot be marked on any map. Behind the palace-s immaculate fa-e, amid rumours of murder and whispers of ghosts, Atsu must uncover the secret of the man whose fate, it seems, is irrevocably linked to hers - the shogun himself - if she is to rescue her people . . .
