The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel
- ISBN-10
- 0679603581
- ISBN-13
- 9780679603580
- Series
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 496
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2010-06-29
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- David Mitchell
Description
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.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2011-03-08
- 512 pages
- Paperback
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
Similar books
-
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
By David Stephen MitchellThe exhilarating new novel by 'one of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or any country' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent.
-
Ghostwritten
By David Mitchell“Hello, Neal's Answerphone. This is Katy Forbes. Neal's separated wife. How are you? You must be rushed off your feet, considering how Neal has forgotten how to pick up receivers and dial. I want you to tell Neal that I am now the proud ...
-
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
By David MitchellThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
-
The Bone Clocks: A Novel
By David Mitchell“I'm Aoife's father,” I tell Duncan Priest, who's looking baffled. “The Ed? Ed Brubeck? Your”—he points to Holly—“other half? Such a pity you missed Pete's stag do last night, though.” “I'll learn to cope with the disappointment.
-
Utopia Avenue: A Novel
By David MitchellThe right hand played overlapping minims: C to C an octave below; F to F, the same; B flat to B flat; E to E. The left hand played jazzlike sixths; blue jazz, not red jazz. It ended. Elf wanted to hear it again. The pianist obliged.
-
Black Swan Green: A Novel
By David MitchellRoss Wilcox and Gary Drake and Dawn Madden targeted me from the start. No matter how I tried to dodge through the fray it was hopeless. I hadn't got halfway across the lake before they got me. Ross Wilcox went for my legs, ...
-
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
By David Stephen Mitchell, Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Honorary Consultant and Senior Clinical Lecturer David MitchellEach of these slipcased editions is signed and numbered, and has a ribbon marker, coloured paper edges and specially illustrated endpapers. With a print run of just 500, this is a treat for collectors.
-
Slade House: A Novel
By David Mitchell. Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house ...
-
Number9Dream: A Novel
By David MitchellPraise for Number9Dream “Delirious—a grand blur of overwhelming sensation.”—Entertainment Weekly “To call Mitchell’s book a simple quest novel . . is like calling Don DeLillo’s Underworld the story of a missing baseball ...
-
Cloud Atlas
By David Mitchell... a grimy smear on my honor as a host. But I cudn't forget that ghost-girl neither, nay she haunted my dreams wakin'n'sleepin'. So many feelin's I'd got I din't have room 'nuff for 'em. Oh, bein' young ain't easy 'cos.