The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet

" 'Miss Kawasemi?' Orito kneels on a stale and sticky futon. 'Can you hear me?'
In the rice paddy beyond the garden, a cacophony of frogs detonates. Orito dabs the concubine's sweat-drenched face with a damp cloth. 'She's barely spoken,' the maid holds the lamp, 'for hours and hours...' "

Jacob de Zoet is a lowly clerk working for the Dutch East Indies Company on the manmade island of Dejima, connected to Nagasaki in Japan. All foreigners are restricted to the island as no foreigners are allowed on Japanese soil. He wants to make his fortune through private trading, a small amount of which the Company allows its employees to do. When he has made enough money, he wants to return to Holland to marry his sweetheart, Anna.

In spite of his need for money, he is incorruptible and stays within the company rules. He soon finds that he is the only one to do so and that corruption is rife among the foreigners on Dejima. The Japanese don't want their society and culture contaminated or corrupted by foreigners but, even so, corruption, financial and moral, afflicts Japan too. Some characters, like Jacob, resist it and fight against it with varying degrees of success. Some of Jacob's network of Japanese friends and acquaintances make difficult moral choices requiring courage and strength of character. Some of them even give up their lives.

"These few hundred words can only hint at the complexity and eloquence of this novel. It will doubtless earn Mitchell his fourth Man Booker nomination and, if there's any justice, his first win."

Daily Telegraph

"Through Jacob's eyes, we witness the end of an era, the beginning of another. This world jumps to life through Mitchell's poetic imagery, meticulous research, extraordinary craft as a storyteller. Jacob disappears from the pages in Part II, which unfolds with the drama and force of a Kurosawa samurai epic, featuring a heroine of remarkable fortitude, resourcefulness and character. To tell more of the plot would spoil the surprises, suspense and development. I'll only add that it is beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing, and proof that David Mitchell is capable of anything."

Review by R.L. Cotugno who also gave it a five star rating.