The Snow Empress

The Snow Empress
Information
Author	Laura Joh Rowland
Release Date	October 30, 2007
Publisher	St. Martin's Minotaur
Pages	293
ISBN	978-0-31-236542-4
Chronology
Previous	Red Chrysanthemum
Next	The Fire Kimono

The Snow Empress is the 12th published work by Laura Joh Rowland and the 12th entry in the Sano Ichirō series. It was originally published on April 6, 2004 by St. Martin's Minotaur.

Synopsis

"The eight-year-old son of Chamberlain Sano mysteriously vanishes. Sano discovers that Lord Matsudaira, his political rival, has had the boy kidnapped and sent to the northern frontier island of Japan known as Ezogashima (Hokkaido). Something is rotten there: Communications between Ezogashima and the capital have broken down. Sano and his wife Reiko travel to Ezogashima to rescue their son and find themselves caught up in big trouble that involves the murder of a woman who belonged to the native Ainu people, a samurai warlord gone dangerously mad, and escalating racial conflict between the Ainu and the Japanese. Sano and Reiko must solve the murder if they want to escape Ezogashima alive."

Dedication

"In memory of Fat Boy, 1988-2007"

Fat Boy was one of Rowland's cats.

Plot

Coming soon...

Character Appearances

Debut

• Captain Okimoto
• Gizaemon
• Lord Matsumae
• Lady Matsumae
• Tekare
• Chieftain Awetok
• Urahenka
• Wente

Reoccurring

• Sano clan
  • Sano Ichirō
  • Sano Reiko
  • Sano Masahiro
  • Sano Akiko
• Hirata
• Midori
• The Rat
• Marume
• Fukida
• Lord Matsudaira
• Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Character Deaths

• Tekare
• Wente
• Gizaemon

Locations

• Edo
  • Edo Castle
• Ezogashima

Glossary

Coming soon...

Cover Variations

2007 First edition (English)

2008 Hardcover (English)

2008 Kindle (English)

2008 Paperback (Bulgarian)

2008 Hardcover (Czech)

2008 Hardcover (Hungarian)

2009 Hardcover (Slovak)

Trivia

• On Rowland's official site, the summary given for The Snow Empress differs greatly from the blurb given on the back of the 2008 paperback reprint. Most notably:
  • Instead of being vague about which of Sano's rivals kidnapped Masahiro, it outright states that Lord Matsudaira did it.
  • It gives the modern name of Ezogashima (Hokkaido).
  • It refers to the people who originally inhabited Ezogashima as their proper name: Ainu. Within the novel, all of the characters refer to them as Ezo and it is not until much later that their proper name is stated.
• The only character to refer to the Ainu people with their proper name is Hirata.
• The 2008 paperback reprint includes the prologue and chapter one of The Fire Kimono.