**By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and
Cloud Atlas Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
**
In 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 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.
