Historical fiction book · Curated
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
David Mitchell · historical fiction
In 1799, Dutch clerk Jacob de Zoet arrives on Dejima, the fan-shaped island that is Japan’s only window to the West, to make a fortune and sail home—until the midwife Orito Aibagawa, a magistrate’s bargain, and a mountain nunnery’s secrets pull him into the closed country’s dangers. David Mitchell’s 2010 novel is Napoleonic-era historical fiction of translation, love, and power at the edge of the shogunate, longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Why read it: A widely searched literary historical novel of Edo Japan—the Mitchell Booker-longlisted title readers look up by name, and a closed-country counterpart to Shōgun already on the shelf.
About this historical novel
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell is historical fiction set around 1799–1800 in the Regency / Napoleonic period with key settings including Dejima, Nagasaki, Japan. In 1799, Dutch clerk Jacob de Zoet arrives on Dejima, the fan-shaped island that is Japan’s only window to the West, to make a fortune and sail home—until the midwife Orito Aibagawa, a magistrate’s bargain, and a mountain nunnery’s secrets pull him into the closed country’s dangers. David Mitchell’s 2010 novel is Napoleonic-era historical fiction of translation, love, and power at the edge of the shogunate, longlisted for the Booker Prize.
On HisFic we tag it under 1. Literary historical fiction and 6. Adventure & epic so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include isolation, translation, love, corruption, and East and West. A widely searched literary historical novel of Edo Japan—the Mitchell Booker-longlisted title readers look up by name, and a closed-country counterpart to Shōgun already on the shelf.
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Plot summary
In 1799, Dutch clerk Jacob de Zoet arrives on Dejima, the fan-shaped island that is Japan’s only window to the West, to make a fortune and sail home—until the midwife Orito Aibagawa, a magistrate’s bargain, and a mountain nunnery’s secrets pull him into the closed country’s dangers. David Mitchell’s 2010 novel is Napoleonic-era historical fiction of translation, love, and power at the edge of the shogunate, longlisted for the Booker Prize. A widely searched literary historical novel of Edo Japan—the Mitchell Booker-longlisted title readers look up by name, and a closed-country counterpart to Shōgun already on the shelf.
Subgenres
Eras
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Regions & places
Asia
Dejima · Nagasaki · Japan
Themes
- isolation
- translation
- love
- corruption
- East and West
Tags
literary · award-listed · japan