{{Short description|1977 novel by Oswald Wynd}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{italic title}} [[File:The Ginger Tree.jpg|thumb|First UK edition (publ. Collins)]] '''''The Ginger Tree''''' is a 1977 novel by Scottish novelist Oswald Wynd published in the UK by Collins Publishers. The novel was adapted into a 4-part TV series by the BBC and Japan's NHK for release in 1989,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-oswald-wynd-1169874.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-oswald-wynd-1169874.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Obituary: Oswald Wynd|website=The Independent|date=5 August 1998|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/13/arts/review-television-in-which-an-unhappy-wife-is-unhappier-as-a-concubine.html|title=Review/Television; In Which an Unhappy Wife Is Unhappier as a Concubine|last=O'connor|first=John J.|date=1990-10-13|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-04-10}}</ref> and subsequently shown as part of PBS's ''Masterpiece Theatre''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/archive/118/118.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010710110614/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/archive/118/118.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 July 2001|title=Masterpiece Theatre: The Archive -- The Ginger Tree|website=PBS|access-date=2016-04-09}}</ref> Because of the adaptation, the novel became Wynd's most famous.<ref name=":0" /> The novel follows a Scottish woman who falls in love with a Japanese Count, and naval officer, and the culture of Japan, following her from 1903 to 1942.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/oswald-wynd-3/the-ginger-tree/|title=THE GINGER TREE by Oswald Wynd|website=Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us|access-date=2016-04-10}}</ref> She gives birth to the Count's illegitimate child and goes on after the child's abduction to work in a leading Japanese department store as the first western saleswoman. She later sets up her own store, only to be forced to leave when Japan becomes involved in war.
== Reception == ''Kirkus Reviews'' was very positive about the novel, writing "Wynd maneuvers skillfully among Chinese and Japanese mores and landscapes--an acute selection from the author's apparently vast, engaged knowledge of the East. A completely diverting and moving tracery of the hardening destiny of a nation and the quiet shriveling of one heart."<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginger Tree}} Category:1977 British novels Category:Scottish historical novels Category:Novels set in Japan Category:Historical novels Category:Eland Books books Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture Category:William Collins, Sons books
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