Across the Nightingale Floor - Softcover

Lian Hearn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330446959 ISBN 13: 9780330446952

Publisher: Hachette, 2006

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Tomasu lives in a remote mountain village, some of whose residents - including his mother - are members of the Hidden, a clandestine, peaceful religious sect. He has never met his father. One day, while Tomasu is out collecting mushrooms, a band of Tohan warriors descends upon and massacres the village. Tomasu confronts the warriors, but is rescued by the mysterious Lord Otori, who changes the boy's name to Takeo, and wants to adopt him. As Takeo learns to read, and to fight with sword and pole, on and off horseback, he does not realize that he is the center of a bloody intrigue ...until it is almost too late. ' Quite simply the best story of magic, love, sex, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman' - Amanda Craig, Independent on Sunday

About this title

Review:

The debut novel of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series, Across the Nightingale Floor, is set in a feudal Japan on the edge of the imagination. The tale begins with young Takeo, a member of a subversive and persecuted religious group, who returns home to find his village in flames. He is saved, not by coincidence, by the swords of Lord Otori Shigeru and thrust into a world of warlords, feuding clans, and political scheming. As Lord Otori's ward, he discovers he is a member by birth of the shadowy "Tribe," a mysterious group of assassins with supernatural abilities.

Hearn sets his tale in an imaginary realm that is and isn't feudal Japan. This device serves the author well as he is able to play with familiar archetypes--samurai, Shogun, and ninja--without falling prey to the pitfalls of history. The novel fills a unique niche that is at once period piece and fantasy novel. Hearn unfolds the tale of Takeo and the conflicting forces around him in a deliberate manner that leads to a satisfying conclusion and sets the stage for the rest of the series. --Jeremy Pugh

About the Author:

Lian Hearn studied modern languages at Oxford University and worked as a film critic and arts editor in London before settling in Australia. A lifelong interest in Japan led to0 the study of the Japanese language, many trips to Japan and culminated in the writing of the Tales of the Otori.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hachette
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0330446959
• ISBN 13: 9780330446952
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276