‘ANDREW MILLER’S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT’ Hilary Mantel
‘ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND’ Sunday Times
‘Cinematic’
Times Literary Supplement
‘A real achievement’
Guardian
‘Revelatory’
Sunday Times
The mesmerising tale of a young man forced to make life-changing decisions, from the critically acclaimed author Pure
Tokyo, 1940. While Japan’s war against China escalates, young Yuji Takano clings to his cocooned life: his beloved evenings of French conversation at Monsieur Feneon’s, visits to the bathhouse with friends, his books, his poetry.
But conscription looms and the mood turns against foreigners, just when Yuji gets entangled with Feneon’s daughter. As the nation heads towards conflict with the Allies, Yuji must decide where his duty – and his heart – lies.
PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER
‘Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity’
Sarah Hall
‘A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts’
Independent on Sunday
‘A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative’
The Times
‘A wonderful storyteller’
Spectator
‘ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND’ Sunday Times
‘Cinematic’
Times Literary Supplement
‘A real achievement’
Guardian
‘Revelatory’
Sunday Times
The mesmerising tale of a young man forced to make life-changing decisions, from the critically acclaimed author Pure
Tokyo, 1940. While Japan’s war against China escalates, young Yuji Takano clings to his cocooned life: his beloved evenings of French conversation at Monsieur Feneon’s, visits to the bathhouse with friends, his books, his poetry.
But conscription looms and the mood turns against foreigners, just when Yuji gets entangled with Feneon’s daughter. As the nation heads towards conflict with the Allies, Yuji must decide where his duty – and his heart – lies.
PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER
‘Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity’
Sarah Hall
‘A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts’
Independent on Sunday
‘A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative’
The Times
‘A wonderful storyteller’
Spectator
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Reviews
Revelatory
A quite beautifully written coming-of-age novel . . . a precisely, lovingly rendered evocation of imperial Japan
Miller's writing is cinematic . . . at all times the author is in command
Miller's writing is a joy . . . a memorable novel, one that stays true to the randomness of life, to unplanned acts and fateful outcomes . . . Deeply moving, written with loving attention to language, it felt like Pasternak back from the dead
Not only does he combine delicious literary conceits with thought-provoking explorations into the human condition, he has the rare gift of tossing out perfect sentences that make you stop in your tracks
There are moments of beauty, truth and irony
Andrew Miller is one of Britain's most graceful historical prose stylists . . . He deftly captures the nuances of his subject's emotional maturation against the brittle bellicosity of mid-war Tokyo
Miller's masterful coming-of-age story ranges from a subtle and spare poetry to an almost Proustian evocation of experiential time
Miller's trademark is silken prose which gleams with acutely rendered detail
Miller's writing reaches across historical distance . . . Like one of the silk umbrellas that Miller's characters carry, the novel unfurls slowly to reveal the intricate, hand-painted patterns hidden at its centre
A real achievement