The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

by

English language

Published Feb. 21, 2010

ISBN:
978-1-4000-6545-5
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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is an historical fiction novel by British author David Mitchell published by Sceptre in 2010. It is set during the Dutch trading concession with Japan in the late 18th-century, during the period of Japanese history known as Sakoku.

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reviewed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

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I don't think I've read a David Mitchell book yet that I didn't love. This is in many ways a much more straightforward book than you might be used to from him, but the combination of vivid writing, humour, an incredible amount of historical research (it's set on a Dutch trading outpost in the bay of Nagasaki in 1799) makes it if anything an ever stronger read.
How he straddles the different sensibilities of the Dutch, Japanese and English through language is amazing, but of course this wouldn't count for much if it wasn't also a very emotionally captivating novel.