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Fiction Mirrors Truth Of Japanese Royalty

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By THEODORA LEAVENS SCHMID

Published: January 27, 2008

"The Commoner," by John Burnham Schwartz (Doubleday, $24.95)

John Burnham Schwartz, the author of "Reservation Road," has given us a fascinating view of the interior of the Japanese Imperial Court.

The Chrysanthemum Throne, the world's longest-running monarchy, is occupied by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Akihito, who broke with tradition when he married a commoner in 1959.

The book centers on a fictionalized version of the events of that marriage. In the novel, the story is narrated by Haruko, the new bride.

Haruko is full of good intentions, love and a willingness to do her duty when she marries into the royal family.

Her good intentions are soon suspect as she is controlled at every turn by her husband's family. She finds she is not allowed to have or express an original thought.

Her life is programmed to an unnerving degree. Indeed, she suffers a nervous breakdown and loses her voice for seven months. This is the fate that befell the real-life empress.

The beauty of the story, besides the meticulous research, is the human dimension. The narrator shows how love and respect can grow even under the most daunting of circumstances.

The novel follows the next generation, which, again, mirrors real-life events. The current crown princess is reclusive and said to be mentally exhausted.

The pressure of living a rigidly controlled, secretive life has proven too much for the once brilliant woman who spoke five languages and was a graduate of Harvard and Oxford.

Schwartz has written a powerful, instructive book about the pervasive effects that a strict code of rigid conformity and silence can have on two women once destined for an entirely different fate than the one they now live.

Theodora Leavens Schmid is a counselor at Monroe Middle School in Tampa.

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