Lian Hearn,
Across the Nightingale Floor.
Picador, 2003.
ISBN: 0 330 49334 5

This is the first novel in the outstanding Otori Trilogy. An epic, fantasy story set in a feudal Japanese society, it is an exciting tale of treason, violence and death. Tomasu is a young boy from the Hidden clan, who, when most of his clan are horribly massacred by Lida Sadamu, the cruel lord of the Toham clan, is saved by the good-hearted Otori Shigeru. Adopted, educated, and renamed Takeo by Shigeru, Tekeo grows up to love and respect him. To help promote peace between the clans, Shigeru plans an arranged marriage; but in this hostile environment, will Takeo be able to exact revenge on Lida? A taut, compelling read in the Samurai warrior tradition.

RA 12+/IL 12+
Reviewed by Edgardo Zaghini
Autumn 2003