Jill Rutherford
The snakes of desire enter the blood of Bebe, Kai, Yoshi and Kenji as they seek out their cravings for trust, courage, ambition and love. The second book in the continuing story of the Secret Samurai Trilogy. Bebe Bell is a modern Englishwoman time-slipped into the mind of samurai, Kai Matsuda, who is fighting for the future of his country in the civil war of the 1860's. Bebe has to cope with the growing pressure of a double life in different centuries and the restrictions imposed on women in old Japan. Prejudice affects her and her relationship with Kai. Kenji suspects Bebe's secret as he fights his own demons. His past threatens his future. Yoshi Makino is a woman forced to live and fight as a samurai and is trapped in Kyoto - '... a city whose streets run with rivers of blood'. Alone and vulnerable, she has to find a way to deal with the Shinsengumi, the most vicious samurai force in Japanese history. The civil war escalates and the country becomes more unsable. Lives get more entagled and Bebe's prescence in Kai's mind causes conflict and anger . . . and secrets start to unfold.