Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
Random House. New York. 2010. 479 pgs. Historical fiction.

This story is set in Nagasaki in the year 1799. Jacob de Zoet is a young, ambitious and punctilious clerk for the Dutch East India Company. He is determined to make his fortune so that he may marry well back home. Soon after arriving, he meets and is fascinated by a disfigured Japanese woman, the daughter of a doctor. Jacob must navigate the treacherous waters of a corrupt company and the confusing collision of two cultures and conflicting interests. The story shifts back and forth between Jacob and his mysterious Japanese woman, Orito Aibagawa, as they must face new challenges and threats to their lives and livelihood.

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