Flowers by Night by Lucy May Lennox
First Prize, Mainstream/Literary Fiction, North Street Book Prize, 2023
Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, 2022
Foreword Indies Book of the Year Finalist, 2021
Readers's Favorite Contest, Finalist, 2021
SPR Awards Finalist, 2020
Love affairs between men are completely accepted in Edo, even among men married to women, but low-ranking samurai Uchida Tomonosuke has never pledged himself to another man. Until one day he accidentally crosses paths with a beautiful blind masseur who challenges everything he thought he knew about love between men. Ichi is a member of the Todoza, the guild of blind men, who are trained in massage and music. The Todoza taught Ichi how to be independent and self-sufficient, but he's still at the very lowest rungs of society. For the samurai and the masseur to be together, it will mean not only crossing class lines and negotiating Tomonosuke's unhappy wife, but also surviving earthquake, fire and famine.
In their North Street judge's critique, Jendi Reiter writes, "I loved this book. It passed the test of 'I forgot I was reading it for work.' More than a romance—though there's nothing wrong with that—Flowers by Night beautifully re-creates a setting that differs from ours in surprising ways, yet is home to universal longings for authentic intimacy."
Read an excerpt from Flowers by Night (PDF)
Available wherever books are sold. Buy on Bookshop.org and Amazon, with additional options on the author's page on Allauthor. Audiobook available.
