In Where the Wild Ladies Are (translated by Polly Barton) author Aoko Matsuda serves up eerie but uplifting feminist ghost stories. Each narrative has an original rakugo story, folk legend or kabuki play as its inspiration. The collection is enjoyable even without knowledge of the original stories, although luckily the US edition has a full appendix detailing the original tales. Unfortunately, the UK edition does not.
As the stories unfold, we slowly learn that Matsuda’s fierce and daring women are ghosts, each with a special skill or power. Read more…