Girl in a Box

A Novel

By: Jean Gordon Kocienda

Narrated by: Edelyn Okano

In early twentieth century Japan, women have few rights. Yet one precocious poet—a brooding daughter, locked in her room at night by protective parents—runs away from home to live a life of her choosing.

She falls in love with a fellow poet and follows him across Siberia to Paris, where they witness the last days of the Belle Epoque. She perseveres through poverty, back-to-back pregnancies, infidelity, earthquake and fire, to become a name every Japanese schoolchild knows today as a pioneering feminist poet and the first person to translate the classical Tale of Genji into modern Japanese. In her single-minded dedication to her art, she inflicts wounds on a daughter that echo from her own childhood. She sets out to make amends, knowing it may be too late.

Based on the life of poet Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) and filled with original translations of her poetry, Girl in a Box will ignite the discussion about the female artist's challenge to create while juggling family, career, and personal freedom. Historical fiction at its best.

©2026 Jean Gordon Kocienda (P)2026 Tantor Media