By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker PrizeIn 2007, Time magazine named him one of the most influential novelists in the world. He has twice been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. The New York Times Book Review called him simply “a genius.” Now David Mitchell lends fresh credence to The Guardian’s claim that “each of his … lends fresh credence to The Guardian’s claim that “each of his books seems entirely different from that which preceded it.” The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a stunning departure for this brilliant, restless, and wildly ambitious author, a giant leap forward by even his own high standards. A bold and epic novel of a rarely visited point in history, it is a work as exquisitely rendered as it is irresistibly readable.
The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the “high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island” that is the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay; the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company; and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland.
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?”
A magnificent mix of luminous writing, prodigious research, and heedless imagination, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is the most impressive achievement of its eminent author.
Praise for The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
“A page-turner . . . [David] Mitchell’s masterpiece; and also, I am convinced, a masterpiece of our time.”—Richard Eder, The Boston Globe
“An achingly romantic story of forbidden love . . . Mitchell’s incredible prose is on stunning display. . . . A novel of ideas, of longing, of good and evil and those who fall somewhere in between [that] confirms Mitchell as one of the more fascinating and fearless writers alive.”—Dave Eggers, The New York Times Book Review
“The novelist who’s been showing us the future of fiction has published a classic, old-fashioned tale . . . an epic of sacrificial love, clashing civilizations and enemies who won’t rest until whole family lines have been snuffed out.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“By any standards, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a formidable marvel.”—James Wood, The New Yorker
“A beautiful novel, full of life and authenticity, atmosphere and characters that breathe.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR
Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.
more
I felt as if I had been transported to late 18th century Japan and it’s definitely not the romanticized version I’ve read about in the past.
Exceptional good writing. Very interesting characters and plot. Leaned a lot about 19th century Japan and Dutch trading.
Great story, entertaining, well-written read.
Mitchell is possessed of a genius for world building – every reader knows that – so when he applies his gift to the *known* from a by-gone world the result is a plush ensconce that beggars everything outside the page. ‘de Zoet’ is a rare one that leaves you longing to come back.
Slade is typically populous in characters here, but perhaps more …
David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a weird book. It’s not a bad book, per se, but it does require that the reader suspend rational thought a bit and simply embrace the story.
So: Jacob de Zoet signs on with the Dutch East India Company to earn his fortune and, he hopes, the hand of his beloved Anna back in the Netherlands. …
One of the best books I’ve read, period. Mitchell’s writing is exceptional, each page has a line or three that begs to be underlined. It’s beautiful, tragic, exciting and original. Read this!
One of the best pieces of fiction I have read in many years. The kind of book you wish would never end.
Excellent historical novel.
300 pages of talking and no action. Informative introduction to this period of Japanese history but a short article would have done the same trick.
A great deal of research had to have gone into a book about 18th century Dutch traders in Japan.
This is a delicious, dense read. Every gritty detail is imbued with poetry. Historical, cultural and spiritual details are so carefully researched, and characters so nuanced, that every utterance is seamlessly believable. The premise is fascinating, and the plot line, as complex as it is, very compelling. David Mitchell pulls the reader …
I read this book, for it was a time of history and an area I don’t know much about. Interesting book.