Splendor and Longing at the Heian Court Series
Splendor and Longing at the Heian Court is a series of erotic literary novellas inspired by the diaries, poetry, and court narratives of classical Japan.
Set within the women’s quarters of the Heian court (794–1185), the series reimagines historical voices as lived interior experience. Desire moves through poetry rather than scandal; power operates through reputation, silence, and surveillance. Each novella centers a different woman navigating a world in which words circulate faster than consent and brilliance attracts attention before it earns protection.
These are works of fiction grounded in historical research. Real figures, places, and texts form the backdrop, but the narratives imagine what the records leave unsaid: the emotional cost of being observed, remembered, and interpreted by others. The novellas may be read independently, but together they form a sustained meditation on longing, restraint, and authorship in a culture that permitted intimacy only under watchful eyes.
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Book III: Desire Controlled
A story of erotic restraint and competitive attention, where replies are circulated, debated, and read aloud—and silence becomes its own form of mastery.
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Book II: Desire Displayed
A novella structured through lists, observation, and omission, exploring brilliance as spectacle and the risks of being seen too clearly.
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Book I: Desire Spoken
A fictionalized erotic retelling of The Izumi Shikibu Court Diary, told in the first person by a poet whose reputation forms through verse long before her name is secure.