Cloud of Sparrows

In 1861, after centuries of isolation, Japan finally has opened its doors to the West, and Lord Genji, a young nobleman with a gift for prophecy, joins forces with a group of Christian missionaries, a mysterious geisha, and a legendary swordsman to empark on a harrowing odyssey toward an ultimate battle. A first novel. Simultaneous.

eat while a new novelist comes along who dazzles us with rare eloquence and humanity, with flawless storytelling and a unique understanding of another place and time. Takashi Matsuoka is just such a writer.

His magnificent new novel, set amid the violence and beauty of nineteenth-century Japan, takes us beyond the epic tradition of James Clavell s Shogun and into a majestic realm of samurai and geishas, ninjas and Zen masters. Brilliantly imagined, gloriously written, Cloud of Sparrows is at once a sweeping historical adventure and a love story of almost unbearable poignancy. It is storytelling on the grand scale from a novelist of astounding depth and grace.

Cloud of Sparrows

It is the dawn of the New Year, 1861. After two centuries of isolation, Japan has been forced to open its doors to the West, igniting a clash of cultures and generations. And as foreign ships threaten to rain destruction on the Shogun̵