The great Fumi Yoshinaga once wrote a short story about a bratty French nobleman named Antoine, his unspoken passion for his uptight and proper butler, Claude, and how their love collides one night on the eve of the French Revolution. The story was such a success that soon she went back and told more about the history of this charming couple, how they fell in love, and how they weathered the Revolution together.

With her typical wit and charm, Yoshinaga gives us two volumes of tales to delight, including a love story set in Seattle (check out the cameo of Pike Place Market!), an eerie story set in feudal Japan, a twisted modern romance, and a tragic tale of Claude’s uncle and his own noble lover.


International Book Ray order:
06. spacedog (Cambridge, Massachusetts USA)
07. Duskdreamer (Devon, United Kingdom)
08. LilyKlip (Sachsen, Germany)
09. azuki (Florida, USA)
10. lynmarenjensen (Carson, California)

Once you receive the book, please read it within 2 weeks and then send it onwards.

off it goes . . .

thanks for reviving this bookring. got this earlier this week; will read and pass on soon.

i don't know why, but much as i love fumi yoshinaga in general, i found myself fairly bored with this (as well as her similar gerard and jacques series) and i didn't find the characters to have any life at all. glad i can cross it off my list,though. have PMed the next person, but no response yet.

9/22: finally heard back from the next person and mailed it off.

It's arrived in Germany. Thank you.

Well, I completely misread that summary and the book is sooooooooo way off what I expected it to be. So after reading the first two pages and skipping through the rest I have to say it just really isn't my kind of book at all.

Will post it on asap. Thanks for sharing.

Read your reply spacedog. Meant no offence - was just a bit surprised ;)

sorry, but to clarify i meant that i had to skip the person who was supposed to be next b/c she didn't respond.

Received the next address.

Book is going back to the US.

Book has arrived. Thanks.

This will be my 3rd Yoshinaga book. Ooku, the food book, and this. Quite interesting how varied her works are.

It's now super busy at work and w holidays coming up, I am a bit slower in my reading. Some days gone by without a chance to read, which is unusual for me. I will try my best to move it out soon but there are two ring ahead of this. Not to scare you guys - the ring won't get stalled - but this stay may be slightly longer.

While at first glance this is very different from Ooku, the theme is closer than I thought. Subsitute Antoine and his father with shoguns, and Claude one of the chamberlain, and it's easy to imagine the scene coming from Ooku. However, the plot runs thin, especially in the second half - feels like Yoshinaga was just trying to fill the pages.

Will contact lynmarenjensen to send this on.

Fumi Yoshinaga is an essential Japanese yaoi artist.

If you're a Fumi Yoshinaga fan, or like manga that's inspired by the French Revolution, you'll consider this a must-have manga. However, first you should read the prequel, "Truly Kindly," That's a collection of one-off yaoi comics (including a very edgy story set in present-day Seattle) but includes the background for this one.

It has some sex in it, but it's not in-yer-face, it's more mysterious, more romantic. The central relationship is more implied--you may find yourself comparing it to other master-servant manga.