A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring 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. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.

明治以來，由於檢番制度尚未實行，日本藝伎的生活和運作依然一如往昔，座落在高知的「陽暉樓」是土佐一帶最有勢力的藝樓。雖然藝伎一向被視為「不見容於世間的人」，但它確有不同於一般正統文化的另一層文化內涵與及運作模式，普通人難以窺見藝伎堂奧。 十二歲踏入藝界的房子，就是被父母賣身的薄命紅顏之一。在講求「藝」的世界中，天賦異稟的她專注於學藝，終於成為土佐一代名藝伎「桃若」。學藝過程艱苦、嚴苛，若不捨棄一般的俗念，便無法突破瓶頸，達到更高境界。然而，此時在房子心底深處復甦過來的女人情愫，卻激發她試圖打破禁忌…… 房子不幸戀上身分懸殊的銀行總裁之子的佐賀野井，他身為良家子弟又不失純真的那股稚氣，深深吸引著房子……然而殘酷的現實步步進逼，懷了身孕的房子究竟要委身願意為自己贖身的老人堀川，還是繼續執著於無望的戀情……徘徊於聖俗之間，房子終究要做出選擇。