Oei is the daughter of the great Japanese printmaker Hokusai. Long consigned to a minor role as gloomy sidekick, she is barely a footnote in the historical record. In The Ghost Brush, Oei recounts her life with one of the great eccentrics of the 19th 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. Wielding her brush, Oei defies all expectations of womanhood but one—she is dutiful until death to the exasperating father who created her and, ultimately, steals her future.

Vera Lowinger Drew is the last of a pearling dynasty. When she is left motherless, her only refuge is in Japan with her grandfather's young mistress, among the legendary ama women divers. With their age-old strength to guide her, Vera comes into her own—until World War II turns her friends into "the enemy." Three Views of Crystal Water crosses generations and continents with a story of love, war and the quest for the lustrous, elusive pearl.

"Everyone lives on Brunswick Avenue sooner or later." So begins Fables of Brunswick Avenue, a collection of sixteen short stories that capture turning points in the lives of characters who have migrated to the city, and ended up—as everyone inevitably does—on Brunswick Avenue.