Sharon

George Foreman knows what it's like to get knocked down - in the ring and in life - and he knows how to get back up again. Two-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, he knows what it takes to succeed. He has a wealth of life experience to share, and in George Foreman's Guide to Life: How to Get Up Off the Canvas When Life Knocks You Down, he does just that.

Barefoot, thirtysomething Amber shows up at the door of a Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. Amber doesn't know them, but she talks her way in, telling lies, and stays for dinner. Eve, an author, thinks Amber is a student her husband is sleeping with. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down. Daughter Astrid, age 12, thinks she's her mother's friend. Son Magnus, 17, thinks she's an angel.

In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.