Arthur Golden is the author of Memoirs of a geisha, his first novel. He was born in Chattanooga (Tennessee) and was educated at Harvard College, where he received a degree in art history, specializing in Japanese art. In 1980 he earned an M.A. in Japanese history from Columbia University, where he also learned Mandarin Chinese. Following a summer in Beijing University, he worked in Tokyo, and, after returning to the United States, earned an M.A. in English from Boston University. He resides in Brookline (Massachusetts) with his wife and two children.

An atractive and a brilliant debut novel told with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism as the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.

Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are the most important; where a girl's virginity is sold to the person who offers more money; where women are trained to belong to the most powerful men; and where love, always elusive, is just a illusion.

Sayuri's story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old with unusual blue-grey eyes, she is taken from her home and sold as a slave to a famous geisha house. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heart of Gion--the geisha district of Kyoto--with its fantastic teahouses and theaters, narrow back alleys, extraordinary temples, and artists' streets. And we have seen her transformation as she learns the difficult arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate make-up and hair; serving sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. When the World War II breaks out, the geisha houses are forced to close. Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself all over again to find a different kind of freedom.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of troubles and a metaphor about life, of memorable characters explained with humor and dramatism, rich with detail and a great knowledge of history. It is transparent and forceful because it is told in a first person voice, that makes the reader remember it for a long time. It is a different look at a strange and mysterious world which has now almost dissapeared. It is also, an unforgettable life about a singular geisha who finally develops her own successful way of living.