Read as part M of the “Along the Library
Shelf” reading journey
Chosen because
I am a bit of a sucker for such a hardback
with an interesting retro cover. The Japanese woodcut effect sets the scene as
the Dutch trading station off Nagasaki, the only point of contact permitted
between 18th century Japan and the western world. History and a clash of
cultures beckon, and the blurb promises duplicity, love, guilt, faith and
murder, so what’s not to like?
The Review
Jacob De Zoet is clerk to the new Chief
Resident of the Nagasaki outpost of the Dutch East Indies Company, come to
clean up the ledgers and clear out the corruption and private profiteering. On
a tiny island, joined to Japan by a gated bridge, the small colony lives in a
morass of intrigue, shifting loyalties and eggshell treading protocol revealed
by interpreters of variable quality and uncertain motive.
Jacob meets the unusual Miss Aibagawa, but
before his constancy to his betrothed in Holland is tested, she is spirited
away to a ‘House of Sisters’ on the mainland. What fate awaits her there and
how can Jacob rescue her when he cannot even cross the bridge to the mainland.
To complicate matters, Europe is at war and
the English are coming to contest the Dutch monopoly. Will captain Penhaligan’s Royal Navy frigate
be a threat or an opportunity for Jacob?
The book moves effortlessly between the main
characters, portraying their motivations and machinations with a light but deft
touch. Always atmospheric, occasionally touching, and tense and exciting during
climactic incidents, it is a rewarding account of a (by me) rarely visited
setting –eighteenth century Japan – the Land of a Thousand Autumns.
Read another?
I have been warned off Cloud Atlas, but
having enjoyed Thousand Autumns I think I probably will look at Ghostwritten or
number9dream.
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