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In David Mitchell’s fifth novel we follow the fortunes of Jacob de Zoet, a Dutch man who finds himself in the tiny enclave of Dejima at the end of the eighteenth century. He is posted to this artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki to end the corruption of the trading company. His future marriage to Anna depends on his success in this role.

Japanese and foreigners are allowed no contact at all, in Japan’s attempt to maintain its isolation but Jacob falls in love with the gifted and facially scarred Orito, who is spirited away into an obscure sect in the mountains. A later meeting with Orito at a funeral is fraught with emotion and the reader shares with Jacob regrets for what might have been.

This long and complex novel is the result of meticulous research and the reader becomes deeply involved in the intrigue and the details of the vice and corruption of the trading company. Jacob fathers a son in this remote world and the novel ends with his distressed departure from his son and his return to Holland where he will live out his life with the ghostly presence of Orito.

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