Flowers by Night
Flowers by Night is a legitimately fascinating novel. In 19th-century Japan, samurai Tomonosuke is living a prescribed life: dutiful to family, married to a wealthy woman, performing accounting for his lord. One day, while at his local teahouse, a blind man enters, hoping to be served as any man might. But as a non-person, a member of the Todoza guild for blind men, the young man Ichi is unwelcome. The Todoza are skilled masseuses, musicians, and money-lenders, and it is for the latter they are despised. When the teahouse rejects the blind man, Tomonosuke defends Ichi and hires him.
Subsequently, when Tomonosuke and his family are summoned to Edo, Ichi follows. That Tomonosuke may pledge himself to be Ichi’s “older brother”—an accepted formalized status for male homosexual lovers—dangles as both unthinkable due to Ichi’s non-person status and as possible, given Tomonosuke’s passion for Ichi. But when Tomonosuke is framed and jailed for embezzlement, his association with non-persons becomes evidence of his low character.
This is a romance about found family, queer relationships, androgynous performers, and in some ways, the ethics of sex work. Within the framework of caste society, these individuals find a path to happiness.
Lennox does a masterful job of laying out the importance of status and hierarchy in a feudal society without sounding professorial or losing sight of the plot. She includes a pronunciation guide, a glossary, and an extensive historical note at the end. The complex workings of samurai culture, Todoza culture, and the role of women are contextualized in the slow-burn romance of Tomonosuke and Ichi. I highly recommend Flowers by Night for readers interested in Japanese history, queer history, and those who just want to read something a little different.
