Across the Nightingale Floor

· Tales of the Otori Book 1 · Pan Macmillan
4.7
66 reviews
eBook
304
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

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

Ratings and reviews

4.7
66 reviews
Zara Reddin
24 January 2018
I can't help but love this book all over again. I bought it on the App Store instead of paperback because it went missing twice and I just love it and it annoyed me that it has happened twice. I have ordered it again in paperback and hope it will not be taken again. I love this book for the fact that it draws you in and if you like Japan and maybe it's culture it a added bonus to read thi. The 2 main characters are brilliant and you can't help but live there lives with them. I would highly recommend it!!
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Sherace Francis
3 March 2014
A brilliant story line with a perfect balance between action, mysticism and romance! It gripped me from the start and every aspect of the book was relevant to the story and interesting. One thing I can't stand is pointless babbling or descriptions that don't grab me and feel pointless. This book was void of that! I loved the way the story entiwned and the relationships between all the characters. You really get a sense of each personality and their respective roles within the book! Brilliantly Composed!
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A Google user
11 May 2017
Its pretty rare that i fall for a book this hard. Now that i think about it, this is the first time i have respected a book so much. Usually, i speed read the entire book just to know the end. But for this....i just COULD'NT. It would be such a waste if i rushed through a book like this. I read it carefully, savouring each word consciously and processing it as i proceeded. Whenever i would start to get impatient, id pause reading for a few days, WEEKS if i had to. Cant wait to read Grass For His Pillow!!
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About the author

Lian Hearn studied modern languages at Oxford University and worked as a film critic and arts editor in London before settling in Australia. A lifelong interest in Japan led to the study of the Japanese language, many trips to Japan, and culminated in the writing of the Tales of the Otori series.

Hearn is also the author of a two-volume prequel series to the Tales of the Otori, The Tale of Shikanoko, consisting of Emperor of the Eight Islands and Lord of the Darkwood.

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