Set in a mythical, feudal, Japanese land, a world both beautiful and cruel, the intense love story of two young people takes place against a background of warring clans, secret alliances, high honour and lightning swordplay.
Lian Hearn's stunningly powerful bestseller, Across the Nightingale Floor, is an epic story for readers young and old.
In his palace at Inuyama, Lord Iida Sadamu, warlord of the Tohan clan, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Its surface sings at the tread of every human foot, and no assassin can cross it. But sixteen-year-old Otori Takeo, his family murdered by Iida's warriors, has the magical skills of the Tribe - preternatural hearing, invisibility, a second self - that enable him to enter the lair of the Tohan. He has love in his heart and death at his fingertips . . .
The first novel in the epic Tales of the Otori series, Across the Nightingale Floor is followed by Grass For His Pillow and Brilliance of the Moon.
'Quite simply the best story of magic, love, sex, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman.' - Independent on Sunday
The first volume in the 'Tales of the Otori' series
In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard.
Raised in a remote mountain village, Takeo is one of the Hidden, a reclusive and peaceful people who know nothing of war. But the tribe's tranquil existence is shattered by a brutal and bloody massacre, which Takeo alone survives, rescued by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru.
Takeo's subsequent quest for revenge takes him to places he has never envisioned. His voyage is one of treachery, of honour and loyalty, of beauty and magic. It is also a journey of self-discovery, as he learns of talents he did not know he had: preternatural hearing, invisibility and the ability to be in two places at once. Ultimately, though, it is a journey that will lead Takeo to his hidden destiny within the walls of Inuyama.
'The orphan hero, the revenge theme, the premium placed on loyalty, and above all the battle between the forces of good and evil: these are the ingredients of the classic . . . and they are all present in abundance. When combined with passionate love, as here, the blend becomes even more heady.' Sunday Telegraph
Across the Nightingale Floor was described to me by the young man in Borders bookshop as a "Japanese Harry Potter, only better". In fact, it's a different beast entirely. Much darker, much sharper, much less predictable.
