This is book 1 of the Asian Saga.
John Blackthorne, the English pilot of the Dutch ship Erasmus, wakes up in Nippon (pronounced Ni-hon) after he was lost at sea. Very few Europeans have been here, except for some Portuguese, mostly clergy and some sailors. Blackthorne becomes known as Anjin-san and instead of being imprisoned, he becomes somewhat of an advisor to Toranaga-sama, the lord of the area who is at odds with another lord. He is assisted by his beautiful translator Mariko-sama, who is trapped in an abusive marriage to a samurai. Mariko, a Christian, also refers to herself as a samurai.
This book has been adapted for TV twice now, I don’t remember much of the first series except the name, I was probably too young to watch it. I am currently watching the new series and as far as I can tell it’s very close to the book which is fab.
I really enjoyed this read although it was very long… 1152 pages or 52 hours in the audiobook.
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2024.
Prompt 47: A Book with an Animal on the Cover.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
