The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Sceptre, 2014)
Historical Fiction
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (ISBN: 9780340921586, paperback 2014): We first meet Jacob de Zoet in 1799 as a newcomer to the tiny Dutch trading post, Dejima, off the coast of Nagasaki. A clerk to the Dutch Trading Company, Jacob is smart and ambitious. Despite tight trading and cultural controls, Dejima is rife with corruption, schemes and jealousies. Tasked with rooting out some of these plots, Jacob becomes vulnerable when he loses his heart. Adventure, intrigue, love and Japan – it has it all.