In an art gallery in Washington, DC, Rebecca is accosted by a
ghost -- O-Ei, the daughter of the great Japanese printmaker
Hokusai. Long consigned to a minor role as gloomy sidekick, O-Ei
wants her rightful place in history.
O-Ei recounts her life with one of the great eccentrics of the
nineteenth century. Dodging the Shogun's spies, she and Hokusai
live amongst actors, novelists, tattoo artists and prostitutes,
making the exquisite pictures that define their time. Disguised,
the pair escapes the city gates to view waves and Mount Fuji. But
they return to enchanting, dangerous Edo (Tokyo), the largest city
in the world.
She does not cook or sew, and is not beautiful, but O-Ei has her
secret joys. Wielding her brush, O-Ei defies all expectations of
womanhood -- all but one. She is dutiful until death to the
exasperating father who created her and who, ultimately, steals her
future. Rebecca is left to discover why and how O-Ei vanished from
her own time, and from history.
Both a feat of scholarship and a breathtaking work of
imagination, The Ghost Brush shines fresh light on the very
contemporary issues of authorship and masterworks. But above all it
illuminates the most tender and ambiguous love of all -- that
between father and daughter.